What A College Student Can Takeaway From Rachel Hollis
This is for all of you who are currently sleeping on the self-help books. Sure, some of them are corny, some seem impossible to put into practice, and not every single one is appealing to college students in their twenties just trying to live every day like it’s their last. However, there is one author I think you should know about: Rachel Hollis, author of Girl, Wash Your Face and Girl, Stop Apologizing. She doesn’t set unattainable standards for her readers, she simply puts it to you plainly. It’s almost like an epiphany or a shot of pre-workout the way it hits you. To sum up her message plainly: Do what you want to do, do what’s good for you, and don’t worry about what anyone else thinks of you. Sounds like something you could get with, right? Keep reading for a breakdown of her most popular tips that, as college students, we really need to hear:
1. Last 90 Days
In case no one has told you yet, we’re in the last 90 days of the year, in fact, we’re in the last 90 days of the decade. I just blew your mind, didn’t I? The goal for these last 90 days is to live your life intentionally, the way you would at the start of a new year. For example, you start every new year with resolutions: I am going to get fit, I’m going to drink water, I’m going to polish my résumé for my dream job, and so on. What if you didn’t wait for the new year to do this? Odds are they’re the same resolutions you had at the beginning of 2019. Rachel Hollis is giving you the opportunity to make good on those resolutions so that you can go into 2020, a whole new decade, ready to take on new resolutions that you can accomplish with the same success. She uses a method called five to thrive in order to encourage some ideas for habits to start that can make your first 30 days of 2020 even better. They are as follows:
- Get up one hour earlier
- 30 minutes of exercise a day
- Drink that water
- Give up an item of food that isn’t good for you
- Every day, list 10 things you’re grateful for.
You don’t have to follow this list, but I highly recommend it. For more info about her 90-day challenge, visit her website: https://thehollisco.com/pages/last-90-days.
2. Just do the thing
Alright, so, I’m going to be honest, I had planned on writing this article after the gym, but instead, I am using it to put off the gym. Although, I’m finding that I’m acting jittery and I really should just go. Every day, all the time, we are aware that there is something we should be doing but we push it off until we don’t do it at all. In these moments, I remember Rachel Hollis saying, just do the thing. The sooner you do it, the sooner you can get it out of the way and move on. If not, you’re more than likely wasting precious time. Stopping thinking, just do.
3. Someone else’s opinions about you are none of your business
From the time we started to develop an idea of what the world expects from us, we started caring about what people thought of us and if we fit the ideal–whatever that may be. In one day, how many times do you catch yourself wondering what someone is thinking about you? On the sidewalk, you wonder if the girl behind you thinks your shorts are too short. In the store, is the mother down the way wondering why you buy so many frozen pizzas? Is the guy behind you in class thinking that your hair isn’t straight enough? I’m sorry, but it’s none of your business and it really shouldn’t bother you that it’s not. You don’t need to know what they think, nor do you want to know. Why? Well, if their opinion isn’t your business, you’re life is none of their business either.
4. You are not defined by how you look
I’m sure we’ve all heard this a million times from inspirational quotes, self-help books, or our mothers. How do we make it stick? How can I explain to you that it doesn’t matter what dress size you wear, or what color your hair is, or how tan you are? I can’t. I can only tell you why you should believe me. There are 7.3 billion people on this planet and not one of them looks like the other. I can look up “turtle” right now and just about every single one is gonna be a similar image. I can look up “beauty” and there are going to be thousands of images and not one will be the same. There’s no exact definition of beauty. You are not what you look like. If you are a kind person on the inside, you are a beautiful person on the outside. Period.
5. Health
As you could see in the list above, in your Rachel Hollis’ list of “Five to Thrive”, she puts an emphasis on health. This is most often the thing that people struggle with; we constantly make new year’s resolutions surrounding it. Not to mention, our physical health directly affects our mental health. Exercise, drink your water and eat food that’s good for your body. Often times, we need some form of motivation, the cycle of self-hatred only leads us back to a path of not taking care of ourselves. So don’t eat healthy because you want a gorgeous summer body, or you want to fit in a size four. Do it because it makes your body feel good. Do it because it makes your mental health better. Do it because it gives you energy.
6. Find your tribe
“Tribe” is a keyword for Rachel Hollis, it’s the group of people you surround yourself with who share your interests and encourage growth. Everyone needs a tribe of people that can encourage them to do what they’re scared of or may not feel able to do alone. For example, if you want to try a new gym, get yourself a group of girls who can keep you company and go with you. On the days you don’t want to go but should, they can be there to tell you to just do it. Other times, you just may need a group of people who have gone through similar situations and may be able to understand when you’re exhausted and need a break. College is where we find our tribe. FSU is a school of 40,000+ students, you are bound to find people with similar interests to you.
7. Stop making excuses
How many times a day do you make excuses as to why you can’t do something? Now, how many times do you regret not doing it? I do it too. I can’t go to the gym, I have to make dinner and homework, and so many other things. Later, I wish I would have just done it and moved on. There will always be a thousand things to do and a thousand reasons why you could choose to not do something. There will always be loopholes; we as human beings are constantly creating them. You have to stop making excuses in order to get things done.
8. You are enough
Perhaps one of the most important things that she spends chapters upon chapters teaching is that you are enough. In fact, you are more than enough. You are enough for your significant other, you are enough for your friends, you are enough for that job, you are enough for yourself. You have to tell yourself this, you have to believe it with all of your being, because if you don’t, your mental and physical health will suffer. You cannot properly take care of yourself if you don’t even believe you are worthy of that. Only after I started to believe I was enough for myself did I realize how poorly I was allowing myself to be treated, by how poorly I was treating myself. Everybody slips, we have bad days, but I hope at the end of it, you will see you’re enough.
