Happiness Tag

From your resident college student, here are five things you absolutely should not do while attending college. I mean, you can do them, but people will not like you and will probably write mean things about you on Yik Yak. 1. Introduce yourself to the professor in a 300-student lecture I know it’s like the new “thing” – introducing yourself to the professor increases the chances of them giving you extra credit or letting an absence slip by – but please, for the love of all that is good and holy, doRead More

Summers are the one season that fools everyone. People go around talking about the weather and how nice it will be, and how much socializing they’re going to do with their friends, and all that ever happens is those same people who hyped the sun are now bemoaning its presence and sheltering themselves indoors with Netflix. There is no cure to possibility of heatstroke, and the desire to socialize is often trumped by the overwhelming urge to sleep in an air conditioned bedroom with every shade drawn. The only thingRead More

Dear High School,   It’s me. Four years later, here I am. Well, maybe not four years exactly. Four years and some days, just under four years, hell, maybe close to five years– you know as well as I do that I’m really bad at math. Bad at math, bad at science, and yet you never cared. Every August your doors opened, and your halls welcomed me like the cold, distant home I never had.   Oh, high school. Where do I begin this letter? You were there during myRead More

Parks & Recreation is literally the best show on the planet. Actually, in the universe. There’s no show that compares to Parks & Recreation because Parks & Recreation is made up of a stellar cast, and therefore a stellar character list, because everyone in the cast is the character they are. Amy Poehler is Leslie Knope, Rashida Jones is Ann, Aziz is Tom, Rhetta is Donna, Aubrey is April, Chris is Andy, Rob is Chris, Jim is Jerry, Nick is Ron and Adam is Ben. We could go on forRead More

If you’re like me– sixteen and thrust into a grown up world of taxes and employment before you even graduate– then you’re probably internally dying over taxes, employment, and what in God’s name the powerhouse of the cell is…because you have a biology test next week and you have no idea. If you’re not like me, congratulations, because you still have a soul hidden from the rudest people in mankind and the desperate urge to sleep. Juggling this all would’ve been easier with a handy guide to navigating the intricaciesRead More

By the time you read this I’ll be 29, probably. One last year of my 20s. It’s settling on me like the realization that five compartments were flooding settled on Thomas Andrews, my 20s will be over. I will become 30… I wished that I had developed a better vision for what I wanted my life to be like when I was 30. If I had I probably wouldn’t be broke & living in my parents’ house in west Michigan. Maybe not majoring in Philosophy would’ve helped too. But thisRead More

My third grade self had planned on getting married when I was twenty and having children when I was twenty-two. (Even then I knew I would need at least a year of designated binge drinking before being responsible for another human). I was going to be a writer when I grew up and I was going to live by the beach. I loved the beach. It was inconceivable to me that there might be restrictions to the planning of these life events. It might be hard to find a husband.Read More

I am obsessed with order, symmetry, perfection. I hate gray areas, in-betweens, grounds of ambiguity. Last year, I strove for an all-or-nothing “balance” that I thought would regulate and organize my life. However, what I’ve realized is that balance is not about “extremes” leveling each other out. It is not always about saying a hard yes or a hard no. It isn’t about making a definite decision. Rather, a true balance is about finding the middle ground that I have hated so much. Last year, in an effort to maintain aRead More

I’ve made it back home after a three week solo roadtrip on the west coast – and I am in one piece. My limbs are all still attached, my physical state is intact except for a bike scrape on my ankle. I’ve returned with all my possessions present, minus one lost hair elastic and one tube of lipstick. I would consider my sanity partially stable, and my mental health only mildly shaken. My bank account will need a whole year to recuperate, but I feel exponentially richer than before IRead More

We’ve all heard Meghan Trainor’s song called “All About That Bass” which is essentially about learning to love yourself the way you are, regardless of your size, and to kick guys to the curb if they don’ t love your curves. You have to admit, this is a great song promoting healthy body image and self confidence for young girls and women everywhere. I recently watched a short interview between Trainor and Editor Amy Odell at Cosmopolitan, where Megan was asked, “Have you always loved your body?” Trainor answers rightRead More

When Tinder surfaced in my first year of university and quickly became the thing to be on, I was in a relationship. A serious, committed relationship, which I had no interest in endangering by downloading what I thought was the most ridiculous app to ever exist. Perhaps the reason I hated Tinder so was because my perfect, wonderfully committed boyfriend had Tinder. Or perhaps it was because I caught him, not once but twice using the app actively, texting other girls and agreeing to meet up with them without anyRead More

I never did grasp the entire concept of letting go. Timing the release of a perfect hug is difficult for me at times. Relinquishing control isn’t my problem, it’s the fear of not knowing that gets to me. According to the multiple self-help books and articles I’ve read, the minute we let go of the attachment to what we really want, it appears in our life. In order to better myself, I need to let go instead of searching to add something.   At the last wedding I attended, IRead More

Post-friendsgiving and pre-ginger-ale ordering at a bar because the fear of vomiting after the many mixes and matches of food and drinks was real, a friend inquired about my plans to go home for both holidays. “You’re going home for Thanksgiving and Christmas?” He asked, surprised at the repeated venture, requiring an airline flight or ten hour car ride a matter of weeks away from one another. I gushed to him about how significant the holidays were to me, my brother was extremely sick a couple years ago and the morbid fearRead More

Every weekday morning, I turn on the news to hear voices.  It is unlikely that I will engage in active listening before I’ve had my first cup of coffee. However, hearing the weatherman’s warm voice and seeing the traffic reporter in full hair and makeup reminds me that there are other souls awake.  As a non-morning person, this daily routine inspires me to get up and stay up.  Sometimes I’ll drink my coffee and pause for a second to hear what my news anchor friends are blabbing about.  Last Monday, before 7am, they toldRead More

I’m the type of person that will avoid conflict, confrontation, and basically, any form of criticism at all costs. As a kid, I would write notes to my parents whenever I was asking for something. Not because they were mean people, but because they might say no and I would rather receive that information from a checked box than a verbal, “Not this time, sweetheart.” I quit a job via letter once. After my boss received it, she called me and left a voicemail. I was too nervous to listenRead More