Having successfully “adulted” for about half a year now, I’ve come to the realization that I’m actually terrible at prioritizing my time and getting things done outside the bare necessities. I attribute this to a lack of long-term planning and goal-setting. Most of my day-to-day tasks are written in a to-do list and completed without trouble, but goals for a week or a month away are commonly pushed aside as these daily goals arise.
Overall, my work life balance is not bad, if you consider most of what I do is either work or play games with friends. My life really hasn’t had much else in it yet. There are bits and pieces of hobbies like playing frisbee, violin, dance, and reading, but I don’t think I’ve dedicated enough time to any of them to be able to properly call any of them a hobby.
Thus, my goal this year is to actually dedicate some time to doing the things I want to do instead of randomly deciding to do things last minute. And I guess this post will serve as a list of these goals that I can go back and check through as I hit everything. Sort of a 2020 bucket list.
Stuff I want to do this year:
- Read a book every week
- Learn a dance once a week
- Go on a vacation trip (out of state) with friends
- Ask a love interest out
- Learn the basics of Korean
- Maintain a clean workspace by cleaning once a week
- Learn to ice skate properly
- Keep up with friends by checking in often
- Be a good person
These goals seem pretty achievable to me so I’ll be updating this post as I make progress throughout the year.
The last two goals are the most important. It’s pretty common nowadays to see memes online (especially in certain Facebook groups) about being depressed, stressed, or even suicidal.
Mental health is as important as physical well-being, but it’s often not treated anywhere near as seriously. With the influence of social media greater than ever, people share their personal struggles to larger and larger audiences. I believe humorous memes act as a great medium to open up about personal issues and find solidarity among others in similar situations around the globe, but constantly joking about wanting to die can be detrimental, normalizing something that very much shouldn’t be normal. I often used the phrase “guess I’ll die” nonchalantly during my college years, and I now realize I was part of the problem.
I guess it’s a balance of sorts; the availability of information serves to spread awareness and improve access to care while the internet itself dissociates mental illness from its seriousness and severity. It’s easy to become desensitized to ideas that should be pretty concerning when you scroll past hundreds of posts a day, many of which involve dying in some way or being depressed. There are dedicated wholesome meme forums: Facebook pages, subreddits, even group chats, that serve to bring more positivity to the internet, but that’s not a great substitute for support from a medical professional.
I’ve had multiple friends who have suffered through depression and/or suicidal thoughts; some overcame it, others lost the fight, and more are still fighting. Each person is unique in their experience and things that help one individual may not help another. Ultimately, my goal is to be there to support, as much as I can, for anyone who may need help. And to all my friends who have been there for me during college and beyond, thank you.