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Hey. Hi. Hello there. Welcome to the blog folks, and I invite you to take a seat and join me in some conversation. I really do try to write my articles as if I had a podcast, but alas, my words will only be written; none of you — or at least a very seldom few — know what my voice actually sounds like, so I’m curious how I resonate to you. Anyhow!

The past two weeks have been great and terrible at the same time. Great, because I was able to hug my friends, spoil them with homemade food, and laugh harder than I had in months. And terrible because the stress is condensing into a wad of cortisol that’s draining my health. However, I’ve taken this time to allow myself the space to move through these phases of emotion, allowing things to come and go like the tide, and find myself in a place of acceptance. I will not always be able to control my environment, but I will always be in control of my perception.

Currently, as the group leader in our microbiology lab, we finally made some headway with our experiment in regard to antibiotic resistance in yogurt. Let me tell you: when I say I was ecstatic, I was jumping up and down and doing the “YES” arms, and it was great and —

Professor: “Are you sure that the antibiotics you used actually inhibit gram-positive bacteria?”

Author: [PANIC]

*Coughs* I did end up being right about the antibiotics, but my blood pressure went up about fifty points after that interaction, but we’re not gonna talk about that.

In other academics, I guess things are going well? Currently, I’m engrossed in Microbiology (lab and lecture), Socioeconomic Inequalities, Healthcare Leadership, and Nutrition Throughout the Lifecycle. Being able to learn from such a diverse faculty is an absolute treat, and I hope that all of them know that they’re all quite unique, and that they’re very cherished.

But then there’s the kicker: stress.

Outside of academics, I work three jobs just to keep my sanity. I write, hop on an ambulance, and work in a restaurant. There is a certain amount of romanticism to be applied to the hustle, but it’s very hard to romanticize crying in the bathtub and falling asleep in lab while your sample is incubating (true story). Habits such as time management, organization, etc., are very helpful when it comes to making everything pretty, but it all seems so superficial sometimes.

There’s all these “glow-up” trends out there and “toxic student” TikTok videos that encourage burnout and other forms of physical and mental abuse. As someone who works in the health industry, all I can do is raise a serious eyebrow. Why should we be encouraging mental distress? What’s the point of that? Yes, working hard is important, along with studying and doing well academically, but it cannot consume you.

See, I’m a pre-med person. Maybe I don’t work as hard as I should, but at the same time, this is my life: I refuse to stay locked up in my room studying all the time. That’s not living. People may say I’m wasting time, or that I’m being young and naive.

I may be pre-med, but I’m also 20. Of course, I’m going to be young and a little blind to cruelty. I will feel the pain of the bird striking the window and the joy shared over steaming dishes of soup. Isn’t that what 20 is supposed to be anyways? I have no interest in partying, dating apps, or anything of that sort, despite it being the expectation or stereotype associated with my age.

So, to my fellow 20-year-olds and other college people: how are you? And I don’t mean the superficial “how are you?” in which you give me a dark humor answer, but the “how are you” in the way that someone you care about looks you in the eye and says that to your heart.

How do you feel. How do you flow, accept, move forward and backward in space and time? What’s your body’s interpretation of that? We store so much energetic gunk inside of us, and I think it’s important to keep in mind that we need to get rid of those energies. Try a class at the Beckerman Recreation Center. Stop scrolling mindlessly on YouTube, and find something that can make you a better person.

Allow yourself to be, and watch the magic that follows.

I hope that this article has served as a sort of “check-in” for you all, and that you managed to pause for a moment or two. So often we get caught up in our lives, and in the wise words of Ferris Beuller:

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

Don’t miss your life when you’re supposed to be living it.

With peace, love, and peanut butter,
Beatrice ❤️

Beatrice Glaviano ’26 is a nutrition sciences major at the University of New Haven.