Senior year has been pretty stressful and luckily I haven't had a breakdown yet. I've noticed that the more I dwell on things, the more I tend to worry about what could go wrong. A lot of these worries are usually driven by fear. Fear of failing or being "less than" what I want to be I guess. Thankfully I have a great cohort of people who have similar worries and stress, and don't make me feel so alone in all this.
I was watching a Ted Talk earlier called "Why comfort will ruin your life." I'll link it down below so you guys can give it a watch too. In the talk, the speaker Bill Eckstorm touches on comfortability and how it hinders our growth as people. He argues that "true growth can only occur in a state of discomfort." Oddly enough, it was comforting hearing about discomfort in such a positive way. He relates living in comfort to a goldfish living in a fishbowl. While the goldfish is safe inside the bowl, he's stagnant. No real change will ever occur, inside his environment or inside himself. Mind you, he's just a fish but I understood what the speaker was trying to say. Sometimes to establish a change internally, an external change must occur.
Ted Talk | Bill Eckstorm
MOre.
I'm my worst enemy most of the time. I put loads of pressure on myself to be something bigger than I already am. As if what I am now, isn't good enough. I measure myself to my goals and once I accomplish them I find bigger/grander goals to stress about. As a result, I'm on this hamster wheel of anxiety that never really ends. I'm never satisfied and it's a pretty silly characteristic once I see it all written out on here.
Final thoughts
Here are some tips that have helped me out lately and maybe can help you out too:
tips
2. Start comparing yourself to the person you were yesterday, and not others and watch your whole life get better.
3. Trust in what you do, even if the 'why' isn't always crystal clear.
4. Put down your phone. (you're looking at other people's lives and missing yours)
5. Drink something hot. It helps. (tea, coffee,etc.)
Stay uncomfortable. It's a good thing.
---Gabriel xxx