We live in a world where pain is overlooked, laughed at, and normalized. Like a beach wave, our feelings are knocked out of reach and sink further into nothingness. There are so many ways to change that darkness consuming your mind, your soul, and your integrity. Let yourself smile and enjoy the beautiful day you awoke to, and live your life. Forget that saying; “you only live once,” because you don’t only live once, every day you live again.

As the semester is getting closer and closer to an end, many Agua Fria students are going through crazy stress levels and suffering from poor mental health. As students, we are going to sometimes have days that are absolutely amazing and other days where you suddenly feel as if your world is going to end and your goals and dreams seem to be slipping through your fingers. There are times you will strongly want to give up hope and stop dreaming. Times where nothing will seem real and the things you love will start to lose their value. The thing is, the more that you let it happen, the more it will happen. The effort that you provide will always show from the outcome that you receive.

Ways that I myself go about healing and cleansing my mind from the negativity that has built up throughout the day is by writing. Calm jazz in the background and dimmed lights. I love to light my candle and after it’s lit I start to play my piano, an instrument that eases my mind and allows me to realize the beauty in everything. The sound of music is so soothing it gives me chills. And what makes it even better is that I’m the one making it. When the thought of failing to succeed comes to mind, I remember who I am and what my purpose is here on this Earth. That’s all it takes to shake me back to reality.

After speaking with a fellow classmate, Diego Villalobos, I asked him what he does when it’s been a rough day at school and he needs to refresh his mind and heal. He told me something that not only seemed relaxing but also something that I’d try myself. He said, “Alright, first I go home and get a bath ready and make sure it’s warm, specifically a bubble bath. After that, I get in and set my phone in that little waterproof holder to hold it and I put on some anime. I sit there and relax and watch anime for about 2 hours and that’s what brightens my day.” Now to me, that alone was something that I didn’t expect. But it made me want to try it on a nice cold winter day.

Another fellow classmate of mine, Eriyana Young, said, “ First I go home and the first thing I do is write in my journal. I write about everything and the way that I feel, maybe even what it was that made me feel that way. After writing I feel tired and then I take a shower and I go to sleep”. What amazed me about this is just how even the smallest things like writing about the way that you feel can make such a big impact on the young adult that you become.

I then went over to speak to Mianie Mia, again with the same question being; “what do you do to refresh your mind and heal?” Her response was, “ Well, I get home, turn on the tv and watch some anime. I don’t do anything special, I just do what makes me happy”. And you see that’s really all it is. Do what brings you happiness, excitement never fails to bring you joy. At the end of the day, take in all the bad and all of the things that really brought you down and let it go completely, and continue to live and grow. Life is like a tree, it starts off thin and fragile but after time progresses and the tree grows and becomes strong and beautiful. The world wouldn’t be the same without trees, the world wouldn’t be the same without you.