Stressed but Blessed

From now until the end of the semester, to paraphrase Yung Chris, (I learned about him from my ballet girls, but I couldn't tell you anything else about him besides his name) I got deadlines on deadlines on deadlines. But I need time at least once a week to write, if not to keep my readers happy and engaged, then to keep myself from going insane. I will always take writing a paper over completing an exam, but this space is even more enjoyable for me because it's not formally graded or constrained in any way. I write what I feel will help me the most, and I hope it helps or at least entertains my readership on some level.

Anyway, to get to the point of my post title, a wise and dear friend of mine used an analogy for friendship that resonated with me. Thus, I am going to borrow it from her while simultaneously co-opting it from Justin Timberlake: friends are like mirrors. We see parts of ourselves in other people that we like, and that's why we get along so well with them. I had never thought about friendship that way, but I wholeheartedly agree. All of my friendships are distinct, but they each remind me of some trait I value in others and in myself. For those traits I wish to embody more fully, I can learn from the examples of my friends. These traits, for me, include but are not limited to the following: palpable, contagious passion for what one does; the ability to overcome criticisms/judgments of others that hamper one's happiness; the capacity to question aspects of life others take for granted; discipline and perseverance; selfless willing to make time to brighten someone's day; the ability to look forward when times are tough; and so many more.

Huzzah to all of you all for being paradigms of living the good life. I'm grateful to be surrounded by people who help me fight life's stresses, overcome my fears, and develop my own voice and path. Even when I am snappy because I couldn't calculate tax incidence correctly or anxious because I'm having an all-too-common quarter-life crisis. Underneath all those ephemeral moments of strife (while they may not feel ephemeral at the time, they certainly are in the grand scheme of things) is a constant appreciation for people who know me and appreciate me.