this st.georgian life

Very mundane. 

This week, I had an essay and an assignment due in my Statistics class. I have a midterm on Tuesday, and I spent my weekend studying for it. A mundane description of mundane items in the itinerary that is the week of a student. Of course, I don't need fancy English to tell you this -- this time of year, with its grey skies (I love grey skies though) and flurry of papers and midterms feels rather mundane and boring. It can feel like we are Dilbert, creatively constrained by the walls of his cubicle, or like Garfield, unable to muster the motivation to get out of bed. This week wasn't stressful, but again, just boring. Or at least that is what I thought.

Before you think, omg he must have, like, raced Daniel Craig down a Rocket subway car or played football with Tom Brady on Main Campus or broke the news of Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez's breakup; alas, I must tell you that sadly I did none of that. But I did have a nice week, and a nice realization that came with it. Now, before we continue, make sure you are dressed up warmly, seated comfortably and have a hot drink in your hands (preferably hot chocolate). Do that, cause at the end of this post it will be raining happiness. This week, before my morning commute based on the recommendation of a professor, I downloaded a podcast for the ride. It's called, This American Life. It's not really about America and I highly recommend it. Anyhow, basically it's a podcast that takes a topic and examines it through the storytelling of five different non-fiction narratives. It's what radio used to be before television. As I was watching the trees and houses pass by, listening to this podcast, I felt happy because I realized listening to that podcast - that life, it is filled with the diverse narratives of other people. When you realize that your story, your narrative is part of the lives of other people, is part of the grand narrative that makes up this little blue marble that is our planet - you don't feel so insignificant. So that was Thursday morning. Thursday evening, I attended a games night for course union executives (shout out to all of the CU executives and the ASSU executive and staff). The room booking people didn't book the room properly, so we ended up setting up in the Canadian Studies office. Nobody played any games, we just talked and ate Subway (yes, free Subway. A student's dream). But the conversations reminded me of the diverse narratives that exist on this campus. We study different fields, we have different interests, we eat different foods - we are unique individuals with something to contribute and this makes for great conversation. It is easy to get lost in a campus that sometimes feels robotic, and humanless. But all we have to do is reach out and connect with our fellow students. That might just be as simple as following up on your "Going" status on a facebook event. We all need to do our best and study hard in school, but it's always good to take a step back and appreciate the small things in life. The people around you, hot chocolate with an old 80's sitcom, a good book, coloured socks. Give yourself reprieve, do what makes you happy, even if this is dancing late into the night to Celine Dion/Lionel Richie.  Because life is about working, yes, but it's also about taking joy from it. Remember, life is too short to be spent being negative robots. When we feel insignificant or insecure, unsure about our lives: we just have to remind ourselves that our voices matter and that our story is a unique one that makes up the fabric of not just our campus, but of our world.