pandora-in-the-box:

epicene-street-light:

wholesome student life things that we should collectively start romancizing

• waking up and being genuinely thrilled to go to class because today is THAT CLASS you love so much you’d like it to never end
• coffee breaks with friends, chatting and joking about this particularly hard essay and the prof’s mannerism
• coffee breaks on your own, as you absent-mindedly watch the people around you, while thinking about what you’re working on
• finding this book you’ve been dying to read for so long, and borrowing it from the library
• the feeling of excitement that goes through you whenever you remember The Book is in your backpack
• understanding everything during demanding classes and being genuinely interested in the subject
• buying a New Special Pen and taking colorful notes that look super pretty
• not being able to shut up about your school projects (no your friends dont really care about the intricate details of what you’re working on, they don’t even have the same major as you, but they’re happy to hear you rant with such a burning passion)
• actually doing the extra reading and having your curiosity so piqued by what you’re reading that you go on and on and suddenly its 1am and what happened
• printing the project you’ve spent so much time and energy on and feeling the paper’s warmth
• actually submitting that project without feeling awful about it because you know you did your best and aren’t responsible for what happens next
• when you finally finish this Super Hard And Important Essay at like 3am, open the window and feel the cold night air on your burning cheeks and everything is dark and quiet and you can see the moon and you’re at peace with everything for a few minutes
• when this professor you admire says you did a great job and/or that you’re talented!!!!
• realizing two concepts that seemed so far away from each other and that you discovered in wildly different contexts are actually interlinked, then Realizing™ things and linking concepts/works/articles to each other at the speed of light & being super excited about it
• being so deeply immersed in your work that you didn’t realize two hours have passed
• finding the Perfect Spot at the library
• that Pure Joy moment when you FINALLY understand that super obscure sentence/text
• when you feel anxious because you’re not done with your homework & the deadline is super tight & your friend tells you they aren’t done yet either
• same but with an even more intense relief feeling when you realize you both haven’t even started yet
• when the professor starts a new reasoning and you can predict what the next idea/the final conclusion will be
• when the professor mention your favorite novel/author/fictional character in class and you feel like your internal screech of joy could shatter glass
• the Academic Salt™ that has you like 👀👀
• when the professor tears apart an author or scholar you hate and you’re like YES I WANT BLOOD GIVE ME BLOOD
• when you learn that Cool New Fact that makes you reconsider your whole life
• leaving the library after a long productive day and feeling like nothing is real but experiencing everything more intensely
• leaving the library at night after a long study session and everybody has left already and its just you and the long neon-lit corridors then stepping outside and smelling the crisp night wind

feel free to add your own!!!

Not to crash the party but whenever I read these things I feel as though I’m not meant to be a student because I can’t really appreciate any of this and even though I know a bunch of these feelings I never get them with regard to studying

And that’s okay I guess but I’d like to know what that passion is for me then

@pandora-in-the-box hey, buddy. It’s okay! It really is. I dropped out of uni last year because of mental health problems and i actually wrote this down because i wanted to remember how it feels to have passion in what youre doing after months of hardcore depression! So really, its okay if youre not feeling well – first of all you dont HAVE to experience class this intensively (am just a big ol nerd), and secondly it’s okay if you feel unable to focus/be as excited as you wish you were. My tactics are to feigh interest even in subjects that arent super interesting on the first look, and to try and transcribe it in tumblr lingo for example. It was more of a healing progress than a directive; we emphasize a lot (especially here on tumblr) the stressful aspect of college/uni. Like those “i havent eaten anything but coffee in a week and havent slept in three days and now i hear colors i want to die but i can’t because i have an essay due”. Ive been in this situation before and it actually made my mental health worse. So i thought that yeah, college can be hell, but 1. Its okay to change majors or drop out if you really cant find any fun in what youre studying and 2. Education is supposed to free your mind and be interesting so i think itd be healthier to try and see the actual fun parts of that experience! Basically dont exhaust yourself and its okay to not feel as excited as youd like to be!

I really hope you don’t feel like a failure for this cause it really wasnt the goal of this post and im really sorry.