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By demonizing pleasure, we set ourselves up for unfulfilling sex lives.
Opinion: Let’s talk about sex
Published March 27, 2024

Getting off the couch: It’s hard but achievable

We’ve all got to learn to handle the daily grind.

New semester, 2017. All we have are the clothes on our backs and the prevailing sense of doom that haunts our consciences.

The former is manageable (we simply wear the clothes), but the latter is pervasive and toilsome.

I don’t know if the feeling of gloom in the air has lowered my serotonin levels or if I’m just at a brooding age in my boyhood, but lately dread has defined my life.

The January blues aren’t solely responsible. During these months, lethargy and the end of holiday season festivities can heighten mental health issues, and college-aged kids’ favorite tweets read something along the lines of So Sad Today’s tweet “just sitting here quietly thinking I’m a loser,” because they relate to them.

We recognize that we’re overwhelmed, and so we humorously share those feelings with others to diminish the feeling of isolation that threatens to swallow us whole.

Such strong pessimism seeps into life’s minutia. When the idea of going to class is worse than actually being there, dismay is omnipresent.

It is during long inactive periods when I watch Star Trek that I’m focused on how much I’m going to hate the second of standing up and going to the History of Thesauruses in Lind Hall. Every time I think too hard about my daily plans, I end up with a cumbersome mishmash of dread and this kind of pessimism.

College is a stressful time but frankly, it becomes intolerable when mundane errands like walking up the stairs of Walter Library yield the same worry I used to find only around midterms, busboy duties and tax season.

We need some sort of release. Poking fun at our dread on Twitter eases the tension because it reduces festering introspection and turns it into empathy and humor. And, to be honest, the walk up the stairs to the Boynton Mental Health Clinic would probably be worth it for me, but it’s tough to take that first step.

Now that the semester has arrived, the khaki-colored facade of Coffman seems as unappetizing as whatever group project is assigned to me next week. But, most things are achievable the very minute you actually start doing them.

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