Happy Friday indeed because finals are finally over. Somehow, I am officially done with all but my senior project for my major. And that fiction project I told you about, well, it’s going okay.

By “okay,” I mean that I wrote 25 pages for my fiction story in less than a week and got my portfolio turned in with a little bit of time to spare. That is pretty good for me. In the meantime, of getting that figured out, I also finished and presented my studio project, got through a 10-page theory paper, and an 8-page proposal paper.

You could say that it’s been a busy week. But now, that week is over. I get to go home tomorrow.

As the week has wound down, I’ve found my reality catching up with me—you probably know what I mean but let me explain. When you get so busy and have your hand in a couple different pots at the same time, time kinda slips away from you. They say time flies when you’re having fun; that statement should probably be amended to also include when you’re too busy to remember to eat and breathe for a moment.

Weeks like this one, they’re can feel like you’re drowning before coming up for air only to find water in your lungs. Once that happens, what do you do?

You breathe anyway.

All of our lives are complicated, with so many moving pieces and people all changing at the same time that it can be hard to keep track of. And when you lose track of things, you can get lost in it. Whether or not things are under control, whether your head is on straight or feeling a little sideways, breathing is the only option.

Otherwise, we give up.

Life is too short to give up. Let me put this in perspective.

I had a long conversation with my studio professor after our final yesterday and some things came up that I was not expecting. As one of the two 4th years in that class, the rest being 1st years who never seem to listen or take their headphones off, she was talking to me and we got to the concept of her teaching. She might be done.

Because she loves teaching people who want to learn about the knowledge she has to share. But when her students no longer show her that they want to learn, she doesn’t have a reason to hold onto that reason to teach. She is coming up for air and the problems, those make up the water she can’t avoid breathing in anymore.

That breath is a warning sign that there is something wrong, something that should not be ignored. And even while she was ready to drop this part of her life, she sat and talked with me for an hour afterwards anyway.

After that talk, she emailed me to say that I reminded her of why she does her job. We talked and afterwards, she breathed in. She gave herself a chance not to give up.

I say all of this to remind you to breathe in today, even if it hurts because there is water in your lungs when water should not be in your lungs. Sometimes, life just happens that way and we have to be okay with that. I have to be okay with a hard finals week because I guess I signed myself up for this. She signed up for a job that some people genuinely cannot appreciate because it is how they are, and it is not her fault. There are still people like me who chose to be in that class because I want to be.

Every day, we are making that choice to keep going, to breathe in and take whatever comes next, prepared or not.

So, don’t forget that when the road gets a little hard to see, keep driving. Keep swimming. Keep breathing.

You deserve to. Happy Friday.