Love her or hate her, Rory Gilmore has a life worth envying: She’s a well-read academic success who belongs to both the tight-knit community of her small town and the affluent world of her grandparents. As Gilmore Girls follows her through high school and college, it’s clear that Rory’s life revolves around academia—she once said, “Who cares if I’m pretty if I fail my final?”
Yet, school hardly makes her miserable the way real-life college students may feel when we have three final essays due in the same week—thus, envying Rory’s perfect, fictional college life. While we can’t escape the demands and pressures of a full college course load, we can romanticize our lives to emulate Rory’s and make even studying feel fun. Here are the easiest ways to adopt Rory Gilmore’s lifestyle—stealing a yacht and a night in jail not included.
- Swap Your Screen Time
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The two biggest mysteries about Rory are her unlimited budget for eating out and how she has so much free time. Unfortunately, the former is just TV magic—but the latter, I’ve realized, is because she doesn’t have a cell phone. As a show taking place in the early 2000s, Rory isn’t seen with a cell phone until season four, when she goes off to Yale. Even then, she isn’t doom scrolling through TikTok on her flip phone. Without a screen as a distraction, she’s able to read so many books and participate in several extracurricular activities on top of her studying. To make your days feel a little more spacious like Rory’s, swap your screen time. Every time you feel the urge to pick up your phone, pick up a book, journal, or other activity instead. And, if you want to commit to the bit, spend your new free time diving into this list of every book Rory’s ever read.
- Make Study Time an Event
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To the average college student, studying is a chore; but to Rory, it’s an event. She’s often seen excited and determined to plow through a long study session, like when she scopes out the perfect study tree on the Yale campus or marches into Lorelai’s house claiming she has to do “serious bedroom study.” Romanticize your studying by making it feel like an event—like something you get to do and not something you have to do. Put on a cute outfit, get cozy in a café or library, order your favorite caffeinated drink, and crack open your books. If you’re anything like me, you’ll feel much more motivated and productive that way. The next time you turn down an invite with Rory’s catchphrase, “I can’t, I have to study,” you might actually feel excited about it.
- Appreciate the Good Things You Already Have
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In its truest form, romanticization begins with appreciating what you already have. Remember why your favorite things are your favorite things. For Rory, that’s the Indian takeout she gets to order whenever Lorelai (who doesn’t like it) is out of the house; when she mentions this in season two, it’s evident how much she appreciates it because of how seldom she gets to have it. Alternatively, recall the appreciation you once had for things that now seem mundane. When Rory and Lorelai visit Harvard (it was actually UCLA) in season two, Rory is so thrilled by the thought of going to college: She marvels at the buildings and jumps at the chance to answer a question while sitting in on a class. The next time you’re stressed about an assignment, remember that you were once just like 16-year-old Rory: excited to have the college life you have now. It might make the weight of it all feel just a little lighter.