Write yourself a NEW story 9.25.2020

Dear Students,

Here we are at the end of another week, barreling towards the end of the first module, and some of you are wondering when is real college going to start? When will you stay up way too late with friends the way you used to? Or when will you get to make the kind of friends you want to stay up way too late with?

What about the parties? The soul friends who really know you? And huddling together on the bleachers on chilly fall nights, cheering for friends at games? Heated debates in packed classrooms and full sorority meetings and bear hugs after the play and laughing so hard it hurts? What about everything that isn't academics - everything you were taught to expect would be a huge part of your college experience - that isn't happening right now?

The painful sense that this isn't what college is supposed to be is so powerful. Movies and books and music and family and friends have led you to expect a particular experience; the pandemic and troubled state of our world has made that narrative impossible.

The old story doesn't fit your current reality. The loss of it can really sting sometimes. Right now, we are all being asked to mourn and let go of an old story in order to make room for a new one.

And sometimes when we are so stuck on what we don't have, it's hard to notice what we do. So try not to let your seriously valid anger and sadness over the loss of what we used to have get in the way of taking in and really experiencing all the good things life still offers. Soul friends are still there, even if we have to talk over our devices rather than in person. Fall nights are still chilly and inviting; how else can we enjoy them? Find a spot outside, sit a few feet apart from friends, bring sweaters and snacks? That works. Seeking out a new hiking spot along the Susquehanna works. Going on different kinds of adventures, connecting in unexpected ways with roommates or family members, having more time to cook or decorate your room or develop a meditation practice or take a bike ride, reflecting on what you want from your life in a new way because this pandemic has made you far less busy...that all works. It really does.

Look for the cracks - for new spaces, new possibilities - in this strange, constrained world. Write yourself a new story about college. Someday this time will be over, and you will look back and think: Wow, it was so hard, and it wasn't at all what I was expecting. But it was still really good.

Warmly,

Lauren, Susan, Katharina, Meagan, Alexis, Kelly and Gene