After a week of working, balancing (or not balancing), studying, and stressing, congratulations everyone; we’ve made it through another week. For the quarter system students, this is the hard part to get through— midterms started weeks ago and from now on they don’t really stop. We are all trying to just hold on until Thanksgiving break. Good thing is, that is now about a month away. Bad thing? It’s a month away.

Ever wonder how you are possibly going to get through it all in one piece?

I am sure I’m not the only one in saying that these weeks get hard. There’s a lot of stress in finding a balance between classes or working or studying or socializing or… You see, there’s a lot to fit into the daily lifestyle of being a functional human being. Notice the word functional.

I’m not even a part of the 9 to 5 working world yet and life already has its struggles. As I get older, it seems things are added to my list of responsibilities, little by little, and I have to adjust to that. Sure, life does get in the way of that adjustment sometimes, throwing new burdens on top of the old, that happens. But there is always a way to get through it all, to keep looking forward. Whether you love what you do every day, or you’re working towards the time in your life that you can, I’m beginning to understand that it isn’t always about that one test grade or that wrong thing you said that keeps replaying in your head…

You have to see the little big things.

Do you remember the last time you got a really good hug? I mean the kind where you’re holding on to that person, they’re holding on to you, and in that moment, nothing has ever felt so comfortable.

Do you remember the last good sleep you had? The kind where you you wake up slowly, your body stretches out, and your eyes open to a morning that you actually feel ready for; you feel good.

And do you remember the last time someone said “I love you” without those three little words? Maybe they said to “drive safe” or “call me tonight”, or even asked how your day was and meant it or just gave you the attention you deserve— these are the unspoken I love you’s.

Yet none of these are big things. In the midst of all that goes on in our lives and whatever hardship might come your way, looking at the hard parts only makes them harder. It makes them bigger. I know that sometimes it’s unavoidable, the bigger it is in your life more times you think about it.

But for just a moment, I only ask for one, stop and think about the little things that happened today.

Did someone hold a door open for you, even though they didn’t have to?

Did you talk to someone you care about and remember that you have people in your life who care for you too?

And did you wake up this morning, after a good sleep or not, and remember to smell the roses, smell the rain— did you experience life today?

Right now, I am doing my best not to take things for granted, to see all sides of something and take whatever comes to me in stride. Just like my parents always taught me, I’m trying to be better. Not just for my friends, or my career, or my future. I’m trying to be better for me.

That includes a full appreciation of what this life has brought me.

Every week has brought its own challenge, sometimes adding to the last that I wasn’t quite over yet. That doesn’t mean this isn’t a good life, that the little things don’t matter.

In this life it all matters, every little bit. And I hope you were reminded of that today.