By Amanda de Lauzon, LiveGirl Media Intern, Sacred Heart University ‘20
I saw a quote the other day that said…
“When this is over, may we never again take for granted:
A Handshake with A Stranger
Full Shelves at The Store
Conversations with Neighbors
A Crowded Theatre
Friday Night Out
A Routine Checkup
The School Rush Each Morning
Coffee with A Friend
The Stadium Roaring
Each Deep Breath
A Boring Tuesday
Life Itself
When this ends, may we find that we have become more like the people we wanted to be, we were called to be, we hoped to be, and may we stay that way — better for each other because of that worst.”
-Laura Kelly Fanucci
I felt this so deeply because I feel I already know that I have learned so much from this experience. I have not only learned how special the time I have is but how to be positive when life isn’t going the way you wanted or the way you planned.
My last few days of my senior year at college I spent with some of my favorite people I have met so far in my life. While we were all so hurt by what was happening, we made sure to laugh and to spend as much time we had left at school together. I will remember that so much for the rest of my life because I never felt more than in those few days how quick time goes. How important it is to enjoy life because it is so short.
I spent a lot of time in college worried.
Worried about the classes I was taking or the homework I had.
Worried about what would happen after I graduated or my grades at that moment.
I should have just been focusing on all the amazing things that were happening to me.
Working at a place I loved, living with my friends who I love and getting to be at a school I loved.
I had so much to be grateful for and I was focusing on the unknowns.While I remind myself everyday how lucky I am to be alive and to have the life I have, it is difficult because of how much things are changing.
My book of life skipped a chapter and moved on to the next…I didn’t get to enjoy the ending.
While I can’t change that, I can make sure to enjoy every part of my future and this appreciation and positivity sparked because of this situation we are all in. I am now fully aware of everything I am lucky to have and I am grateful for that.
Positivity grows in dark places.
This experience has made me wake up every day and think, wow I am lucky to be me.
I am lucky to have a house to be quarantined in with people who I love.
I am lucky to have been able to go to college at all.
I am lucky I have had awesome internships and amazing experiences during this time.
I am lucky to have made the friends that I did.
I am lucky for the love I have for those around me and the happiness I feel when they are with me.
I am so lucky for everything I do have that I just can’t focus on what I don’t.
So, for me positivity comes from appreciation.
It is more about being grateful and feeling happy in the present than about blindly convincing myself that things are great.
Everything doesn’t have to be positive to feel like you have a positive outlook on life.
So, I wake up every day and make a list in my head of not only what I have to do that day but what I am lucky to have.
You can’t let that slip your mind at times like these because it is what keeps you going. Make your list and repeat it every morning until it's ingrained in your mind until you appreciate every day as it comes.
I open the page of my next chapter of life excited to see what it holds. Excited to take full advantage of everything and to appreciate the small things knowing they can be taken away.
So, to myself when this is over, I hope you appreciate the way this changed you. I hope you realize the parts of your life that someone else would die to have and you feel lucky to be who you are.
