{"id":1020,"date":"2010-04-19T11:52:52","date_gmt":"2010-04-19T11:52:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/freshliving\/2010\/04\/living-well-on-a-college-campus.html"},"modified":"2010-04-19T11:52:52","modified_gmt":"2010-04-19T11:52:52","slug":"living-well-on-a-college-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2010\/04\/living-well-on-a-college-campus.html","title":{"rendered":"Living Well on a College Campus"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"college_mug.jpg\"<\/a><\/span>Today, Fresh Living gets schooled with a thought-provoking guest post from our intrepid and talented intern, Tufts University student Marysa Sheren.  Marysa is walking a path I know I wasn’t mature enough to attempt at her age–she’s learning to shape her life around sustainable, life-affirming habits that will foster health and happiness now and in the future.  <\/p>\n

Below, she muses on the inherent excesses of the college experience, and she shares a journaling technique she developed to make sure she’s on the road to becoming what she calls “an empowered and mindful consumer of life.”<\/i> Food for thought for all of us–and an invitation to recapture some of the freedom and passion we had when our adult lives were just beginning. Well done, Marysa!  <\/i>—Holly<\/i><\/p>\n

On Poison Berries and Sweeter Fruits<\/u><\/b>
By Marysa Sheren<\/p>\n

As a
\ncollege student, I play in a world of excess: excessive studying,
\nexcessive stress, excessive caffeine, but also excessive excitement and
\nanticipation of the future.  I consume incessantly – new people, new
\nideas, everything bagels – sometimes without even realizing what I’m
\ndoing.  <\/p>\n

This
\ncolorful, noisy whirlwind of stimulation can make me feel vital and
\noccasionally provides a much welcomed adrenaline high.  But it can also
\nleave me depleted.  Sometimes, at the end of a busy day, I find myself
\nlying exhausted on my top bunk at night, somehow too tired to sleep. <\/p>\n

My
\nlifestyle, though uniquely collegiate, is not unlike that of countless
\npeople who find themselves exposed to our society’s extremist tendencies
\nwhere the pace is fast and the consuming frenzy rages unconfined. 
\nRegardless of our location or vocation, many of us find ourselves
\ndizzied and disoriented by our culture of excess, unsure of which way is
\nup.<\/p>\n

A few weeks
\nago, though, while deeply regretting the ingestion of an ungodly amount
\nof coffee, I had a formative realization: I have the power to choose
\nwhat I consume.  From the websites I frequent to the thoughts I turn
\nover in my mind, I am in the driver’s seat when it comes to fueling and
\nfurnishing many facets of my daily life. <\/p>\n

My new
\nattitude in tow, I decided to write out in my journal which things –
\nsubstances, people, behaviors, thoughts – have a positive effect on me,
\nand which do not.  I wanted to be an empowered and mindful consumer of
\nlife, no longer a victim of my environment but in charge of harvesting
\nits fruits, and of avoiding its poison berries.<\/p>\n

I utilized
\nthe blank page by splitting it in half vertically.  I titled the left
\nside “bad” and the right column “good.”  Simple enough.<\/p>\n

The first
\nitem on the “bad” column?  Excessive caffeine consumption.  It flowed
\neffortlessly from there: snacking out of boredom, clicking zombie-like
\nthrough others’ Facebook pictures, all-nighters, anxious speculation
\nabout post-graduation plans, gossipy sociability, self-flagellating over
\na disappointing test score…<\/p>\n

The “good”
\nlist wrote itself: writing in my journal, hosting dance and tea parties
\nin my dorm room, short bursts of efficient studying, religious services,
\ncooking, physical affection, deep breaths, my little sister, cat naps…<\/p>\n

Standing
\nback and looking at my inventory, I was puzzled as to why I would ever
\nchoose to consume any of the items on the “bad” list, which stood before
\nme as a kind of confession.  The good list, on the other hand, was an
\ninvitation.  It offered me a wellspring of resources for sustainable
\nenergy and peaceful rest.  Why would I ever not<\/i> choose that?<\/p>\n

Sometimes, I
\nthink, in the craziness of our daily lives, it helps to remember that,
\nwhile there is a lot we cannot control, there is also a lot we can. 
\nPressures and impulses to consume mindlessly or to slip into destructive
\nbehaviors need not be viewed as insurmountable obstacles, but merely as
\nthe berries best avoided.  And on the flip side of that coin: a garden
\nof sweet fruit ripe for the picking.<\/p>\n

(image via: http:\/\/www.cafepress.com\/<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Like what you see? <\/strong>Click here to subscribe<\/strong><\/font><\/a> and get Fresh Living in your in-box every day!<\/p>\n

<\/strong> <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today, Fresh Living gets schooled with a thought-provoking guest post from our intrepid and talented intern, Tufts University student Marysa Sheren.  Marysa is walking a path I know I wasn’t mature enough to attempt at her age–she’s learning to shape her life around sustainable, life-affirming habits that will foster health and happiness now and in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72,173,2,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-food","category-guest-blogger","category-holistic-living","category-inspiration"],"yoast_head":"\nLiving Well on a College Campus - Fresh Living<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2010\/04\/living-well-on-a-college-campus.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Living Well on a College Campus - 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A graduate of Cornell University and Harvard Divinity School, she has more than a decade of experience writing about religion and spirituality for Newsweek, The Washington Post, Spa Finder, Sojourners, Search, and many other publications. Her commentaries have also been heard on NPR\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153All Things Considered.\" When not at her desk, you can find her baking, in her garden, or rockin' out in water aerobics class. She lives in Arlington, Mass. Visit http:\/\/www.hollyrossi.com for more.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/author\/hrossi"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1020\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}