Stress is a part of everyday life when you are a college student. Stress over classes, work, bills, tests, involvements- these are all important things to stress over. So my question is why does anyone stress over things that do not matter?

He said this, or she said that. The 21st century terms for all of this are drama or gossip. It seems to me that people thrive on it, people love controversy and scandal. It intrigues us; we live for it. But it takes away from precious time that people could be spending on other things. If I could count the hours I have spent listening and talking about trivial things that people, including myself, waste their time on I would probably be disgusted by it. At the end of the day does it really matter what that girl said about you, or who he hooked up with last night?

Time is a precious commodity that we are all blessed with. If you throw it away then you do not deserve it. What we should be doing is handling the stress that matters in our lives. Worrying about the things that matter, and cultivating relationships that have a positive impact on your life, rather than a negative one. If people in your life stress you out, make you upset or take away from the positive experience that living should kick them out. Don’t deal with people who don’t respect you enough to add to your life. You have enough to worry about. People that let themselves care about trivial things are only hurting themselves in the long run. This is your life; you deserve the best that it has to offer.

This is not to say that sometimes bad stuff doesn’t happen. Because bad things happen, no matter how you live, what you do, or how hard you try to avoid stress, it will still hit you when you don’t expect it. So why would you have anymore of anything in your life than is necessary?

A second point to make, is why would you worry about these things, when there are so many bigger problems in the world? Put your life in a global perspective for a moment. In the grand scheme of life, do the little stresses people worry about everyday matter at all? People are dying on massive scales of starvation, poverty, genocide and murder. Thousands and thousands of people are dying every day of circumstances outside of their own control that make the nuances of everyday college life seem trivial.

We don’t wake up in a world where we are scared of not eating, or scared that if we step outside we might be killed for the color of our skin, or being women, or being educated. We live in a place where our individuality is not only welcomed but encouraged! Who are any of us to complain about petty issues between squabbling individuals?

Does your stress seem really super important anymore? I didn’t think so.

You get one chance on this crazy wildly out of control planet to make it count and make it memorable. Realize how blessed you are for living where and when you do and don’t allow anyone ever to make you feel badly, or make you join in on the petty stresses of life.

Rachel Carey is a junior political science major. She can be reached for commet at [email protected].