You look out the window. It's dark. You close your house door and step outside, hoping you didn't forget your lanyard, and it’s dark. You leave Steel House and guess what...it’s dark. Shocker.
It’s that time of the year where everything is grim. Everyone’s done listening to Mariah Carey and wishing their love life will resemble that of those in Love Actually, and also thinking about how great Hugh Grant would be as Prime Minister. Very sexy and not very effective – my ideal type of politician. January can sometimes be a month ruined by New Year resolutions and a lack of sunlight. However, do not lose hope! There's Chinese New Year, Martin Luther King Day and many other festivities look forward to. But I have been wondering why we put so much effort into January. There's sometimes a sense that we force it to be a good, Pinterest-approved month out of an annually-recurring pressure to be a better, fitter and smarter you.
With everything happening in the world at the moment (which is quite overwhelming to think about), there is something in the air that gives me the sudden urge to breathe. As Phil Collins brightly said, “It’s no stranger to you and me and I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord”. Everyone gets the sudden urge to breathe. Maybe it's all the chaos that has been around for far too long, all the unrest and unease that seems to appear everywhere and anywhere, or maybe it’s that odd fright you get when the new year approaches about what is to come. Of whether 2025 is just going to be the same as 2024. But why do we want 2025 to be any different to the precedent years? We ask ourselves many questions as the new year begins. Will I get into [insert chosen university]? Will I ever be on the front cover of Vogue? Will I ever see Hugh Grant become Prime Minister? Will I ever be able to look at Denzel Washington and not gasp? All these mysterious, unanswered questions running around our brains and making us feel the sudden urge to breathe.
This urge might come unexpectedly – perhaps on a stressful day, while stuck on the London underground, or while folding laundry. It’s your mind and body signalling to you that you need a pause. Between deadlines, personal issues and life in general, we can get tired, overwhelmed and forget to breathe. Ignoring this signal can lead to burnout, anxiety or a sense of disconnection from the world around you. Doesn’t sound very nice. We tend to over-caffeinate, over-schedule and over-perform, treating downtime as a luxury rather than a necessity. But when life insists you pause, when you suddenly crave a breath so deep it feels like your lungs might burst, it’s a sign.
We live in a time where everything is run by stress, from the stress of exams to the stress of being judged to the stress of whether your Instagram post is funny enough but not too funny or else you’re a beg. Don’t get me wrong, stress is good and it is what enables you to push yourself, thereby building your confidence, but like anything else it is unhealthy in excess. I remember being stressed about being stressed…that is not good. Stress should be a passing emotion, not a 24/7 job that requires the same constant attention as a 2-year-old.
No one needs burnout. Burnout happens when a lifestyle lacks balance, and this often means work is playing too big a role in your day or adding unnecessary pressure. For a Harris Westminster student, this stress is systemic, but there are everyday habits that can slowly form solutions. Solutions are unique to each individual and I advise you to look into different ways which suit you particularly in relieving your stress.
But sometimes all you need to do is pause. Listen to ABBA or 'The Lady in Red' by Chris de Burgh. Cry if needs be. Meet or Facetime a friend and vent it all out.
When you need to breathe or feel overwhelmed:
Inhale for a count of 4.
Hold for a count of 3.
Exhale for a count of 5.
And remember! It’s okay not to be okay. I hope the rest of your day is better than the start!
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