Monday #4 - Risks

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Hello all!

Welcome back to one Monday at a time. I took last week off, since we didn't have classes, but this Monday, I am back in the swing of things. The past two weeks have been very eventful in my life. As of writing this, I have 25 days left of my URI undergrad experience. That seems wild to say, but here it is, a whole 5 and 1/2 months early. I feel that my brain is dragging though, maybe this is what they call "senioritis", or a complete and utter unwillingness to do anything that has to do with school. I'm being productive in my everyday life, going to the gym, cooking, and even decorating for Christmas a bit early! I just have an extreme aversion to homework right now, and I'm trying to stay focused, but it's so hard when I'm soooo close to the end. It's like I'm carrying barrels of water up a mountain, and I can see the peak, and so I start to move faster, and care a little less about the water I'm holding, and soon enough I'm spilling more than a couple drops... you get my point. That's not what I wanted to talk about though, I wanted to talk about risks.

I love taking risks. Doing the hard thing is difficult, but the benefits are usually so much greater than you could ever have received from taking the easy way out. One risk I've taken this week was performing a song I wrote at an open mic in 193 Coffeehouse in Memorial Union. I was so nervous, because I've never played my music for anyone other than my parents and closest friends. It was so exciting to share something with people I didn't know, and especially in such a supportive environment. It was like going on a rollercoaster for the first time. The whole time you're in line you second guess yourself, but as soon as you're strapped in the seat you can't go back. It's the point of no return, you either are going to hate it or have the best time of your life. And if it's the best time of your life, you want to go again and again and again! I'm happy to say that my experience was the latter. 193 doesn't have another open mic for a while because of the holidays, but maybe I'll find somewhere else to sing. I hope that if you're reading this, you decide to take a risk this week, whether it's building connection with someone you don't normally talk to. Maybe you try and find something in common with that political family member. Try and explore somewhere in your hometown you haven't been before, or give a compliment to a stranger. All things I wish were a more prominent part of my daily life. Maybe I'm not as risky as I thought, but I'm positive 21 isn't too late to start, right?

Life is short, take the risks. Until the next one!

one Monday at a time,

Ethan

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