“Death doesn’t discriminate”. ‘Wait For It’ Hamilton Soundtrack
Death affects us all because nobody lives forever, despite how much we may want to play immortal, we aren’t. Death is a concept that several are uncomfortable speaking about publicly, even though it is something that everyone confronts at various points in their lives. In college, the timeline is fast-paced and the overwhelming feeling to keep moving tends to cause several students to feel like the waves of an ocean are knocking them down to the point of drowning. But it doesn’t have to feel like that.
I realized recently that more people than not are struggling with grief. In September of 2020, I experienced the pain of losing a person very close to my heart, my grandmother. As the old saying goes “You never know what you have until you lose it” and that saying is the truest thing I have come to learn. Mourning doesn’t get easier, and everyone mourns in their own way. Sometimes the grief hits you in waves and other times that intense feeling hits you like a truck and fogs your mind for days at a time. With grief, you have to let your emotions flow, take a step back from life, and clear your schedule. Don’t keep the emotions in, let them flow in heavy waves that bring you under the water, let them flow in calm waves that make you feel peaceful. Dig your feet into the sand and take a deep breath, nothing is permanently lost, it’s merely absent for a period of time.
So, take a walk around, paint some portraits, spend time with your friends, self reflect, and be at peace with yourself. This may seem impossible to do, it may seem like the only option is to feel the sorrow of your loss, but you are never alone. The University of South Carolina offers several grief therapy groups and if you wish to find out more information on this, visit this link . Losing someone or something is just a misstep in your path, don’t let a misstep rule your life for longer than it needs to.