With Thanksgiving right around the corner, the holiday season looming, and the fall semester wrapping up, stress is at an all-time high. And that means it’s the perfect time to roll your shoulders, take a deep breath, and just swallow your pride already so you can ask for the help you so clearly need.
I know, I know. You don’t need any help, and certainly not from me. You’ve got everything all figured out, buddy boy, and if I think I know what I’m doing compared to you, well, I’ve got another thing coming to me. And pride?! I’m going to talk to you about pride?! For Christ’s sake, you don’t even have any pride to swallow at this point in the semester; you’ve dropped Calculus II, switched your major, and your best grade is in Physical Education.
But that’s not the point, for several reasons. Allow me to itemize them for you:
- Your grades don’t reflect on you, or the kind of person you are. They only reflect on how well you understand and—cough cough—how much you studied the course material.
- You go to a tech school, so of course your grades make you want to gouge your eyes out (and that freshman that sits in the front row and seems to understand everything effortlessly—but that’s neither here nor there).
- I wasn’t even going to get into this or talk about grades??? God, Karen, this is exactly what I’m talking about.
Back to the point—it’s Thanksgiving, right? An occasion to take a break from the grind, spend some time with family and friends, share some food and wine, and actually cut the self-centered narcissistic persona non-sense for maybe a nanosecond? You know, just enough time to squeeze out a heartfelt “I love you” or “Ugh, you know I care about you”, before you go back to lurking on your ex’s Instagram and pretending you’re that “underdog that doesn’t need anyone else”?
So here’s what I’m asking you to do:
Make a to-do list and set reasonable, attainable goals for this week.
Go easy on yourself, because you’re only human.
And don’t be afraid to ask for help. Whether it’s help cooking for your guests, setting the table, studying for your last common, or something even more serious than that—take a deep breath and just ask. Everyone needs a helping hand, and most people in your life don’t actively want to see you struggle or fail.
