I don’t know about you, but 2016 was a crazy roller coaster of a year. It started with a bang and continued to falter as the months went on.
A year ago, I was sitting at my designated computer in the West Hall newsroom, writing a column about how 2016 was going to be my year – the Year of Lauren. And, for the first few weeks of 2016, it was my year. I started an online writing job that I loved and started my on-campus internship, I turned 21, I was going to live up to my promise of going to the gym more often and was completely ready to put the previous semester behind me.
But, as January turned in to February, I felt myself slipping into my old habits. Yes, I loved my job, yes, I was going to the gym consistently, classes were being , well, classes, but I was totally over being 21 about a week after my birthday because it had already lost its sparkle-in my eyes.
The feeling of apathy started to creep back into my life, and I’d continually think to myself that I’d rather be curled up watching something on Netflix or Hulu instead of doing actual schoolwork. Luckily for me, I could justify more Netflix/Hulu watching by saying it was for my job, something I constantly used as an excuse to my mother when she’d call me.
By the middle of April, I was ready to be out of school for good. Especially since my best friend had recently given birth to her first child, and I wanted to be home to meet my little nephew instead of taking classes. At least I was still living the Year of Lauren to the best of my ability and was still working out.
By the time summer ended and I was back here for my last year of school, I just wanted to be done with everything. I wanted to be in the real world. And, in a way, I was in the real world. I was promoted at work to be the editor of the television department, which may not sound like a big deal, but for someone who is striving to be a professional entertainment journalist, it’s a huge deal.
And, again, midway through the semester, my feeling of apathy came back. I was more absorbed with watching the fourth season of “Chicago Fire” for the umpteenth time and crying whenever a semi-famous person on Twitter would like any of my tweets. I also stopped working out, which could be another reason I felt so apathetic about almost everything because I stopped having a healthy outlet to take out my frustrations.
So, now that I’ve spent the majority of my word count assessing my 2016, it’s time to look forward to 2017, which I’m hoping is less crappy than 2016. I’m graduating in May, which is definitely something to look forward to. I’m (hopefully) going to be employed with a job that will pay me enough to get a semi-decent place to live.
While 2016 was the Year of Lauren, 2017 is going to be the Year of Bettering Lauren To Make Sure She Doesn’t Lose Her Mind From Stress. So, if you need me, I’ll most likely be watching “Chicago Fire” or “This Is Us” and neglecting anything relating to school. It’s still early in 2017; I have the rest of the year to stick to my goal.
Relpy to Lauren at
