The Boundless Human Spirit
You are a reflection of every person you've ever met, every place you've ever been to, and every experience you’ve ever had. It doesn’t mean these events define you, but they have each brought you to where you are now.
The highs of laughter with friends, hugs from family, and compliments given by teachers. And the lows of being yelled at, feeling excluded, and having your chest ache from others’ hurtful words or actions.
Anthony Bourdain was a chef, author, and traveler who wrote about the complex human condition.
“If I'm an advocate for anything, it's to move. As far as you can, as much as you can. Across the ocean, or simply across the river. The extent to which you can walk in someone else's shoes or at least eat their food, it's a plus for everybody. Open your mind, get up off the couch, move.”
When it comes to depression and academic burnout, you feel stuck—captive in a cycle of exhaustion and stress that never allows you to truly rest. It’s impossible to block out racing thoughts that catalog lists of everything you should be doing.
These spiraling thoughts keep you overwhelmed and paradoxically prevent you from even starting the list.
These failures are internalized. They feel heavy in your chest and stick with you, defining you as not good enough. The guilt is overwhelming, making you feel like a bad student and a bad friend.
Why do I keep canceling? Why do I push away the people who love me and just want to help me? I’m embarrassed. I just want to get out of this rut on my own.
Rotting away and waiting for a messiah to come lift me out of bed and fill me with unmatched motivation.
Stop waiting. No one’s coming.
Every second makes you feel worse. Every thought only acknowledges the long list of chores that surround you and traps you even deeper.
The only thing that can help—the absolute only thing that can make you feel better—is to get up. Do just one thing on the list.
If you can think of one thing–like taking a shower– instead of an overwhelming list (take a shower, do laundry, make breakfast, do essay, go to the gym, study), life feels a little bit more feasible.
The weight grows heavier and your skin sinks deeper into your sheets.
So hard to move. No matter how many alarms you set or how much you have to do, the world moves in slow motion.
But alas, you get up.
Doesn’t matter if it’s just to use the restroom. You will get up. You do get up. Every single time. Doesn’t seem like this feeling will ever end. Feels so permanent each time you’re in this state. But it’s not. Never was.
There is always a time in the future when that necessary task is complete.
Find comfort in that. The boundless human spirit keeps moving forward. Even knowing you will die someday, that the world will end and everything will turn to dust, you still study and you still work.
You know how big the world is. Ultimately, you are just a speck in the universe. Known by a few hundred people and remembered by even less.
Some of us will make history, but most of us won’t. But you still watch sunsets. You still go for walks. You smell flowers and pet strangers’ dogs. These things may be trivial, lacking tangible meaning or purpose, but you do them because you’re human.
The human spirit is incredible.
You don’t need to start your assignment at 6:30. You can start it at 6:27. You can start it now.
Strike out,
Strike St. Louis
Written by: Natalia Jamula
Edited by: Jordan Siegel