By Hayleigh Brokaw
I have gotten in the habit of writing holiday blogs, so this seemed like the perfect time to do it. I have found in the wrapping-up of this semester that there are so many little things to be thankful for, which of course came with spontaneous self-reflection. This all ties into previous topics which I have written about; these include student burnout, gratitude, and the importance of family.
A few blogs ago, I wrote about burnout in a time where I thought it couldn’t get any worse. I got to this past week, and I just had to laugh. It did get worse. It got worse for lots of people, honestly. It took, and still is, taking all of us crutching against each other to get through these next few weeks. Among conversations with friends, I noticed the trend of being thankful for the upcoming fall break for Thanksgiving. There are a handful of students who make weekly trips home, for others it takes months. Collectively, I would say my circle is ready to be with our families again. It has become such a strange thought to me that growing up and going away would provoke such a strong emotion towards being able to go back to our home, or friends and family. The ideals of college always seemed to be the opposite.
The inner processes of my experiences have left me with more thanks in my heart than I could imagine. The biggest outburst of this emotion was around the time of my father’s passing, when my friends, family, and community showered my family with the most love and support that I could never be able to fully repay them for. From that moment on, truly, I have never again wanted to skip a chance to be grateful. I have the strongest mother and brother I could ask for, a group of friends who are always there, and a boyfriend who does not get enough credit for putting up with me- but he does.
In other parts of my brain, I see people all the time who are…. Quite different. While I have had the explicit privilege of being acquainted with the best humans I could ask for, there have been moments where I wish I could smack some people across the head. The amount of kindness and privilege that some individuals pass up or take for granted is unthinkable. For some, they see it as nothing special. These are things they feel they are entitled to.
With both of these views in mind, my goal for these next few months of 2021 is to just be thankful, especially the small things. I am thankful to be able to go to school, watch my brother grow up, watch my mother find her happiness, be able to go home to extended family, bake Christmas cookies with my grandma in two weeks, work with a team of funny and talented interns, and to be able to spend time with my best friends/boyfriend in this holiday season. I have written so much about being burnt out, and also about being grateful (however, I am NOT grateful for burnout), and I have invited you to think about these things as well. I write about my own experiences, hoping someone might be able to relate. In this case, I want you to be thankful, no matter how big or small.