Reminders

The human brain can only take so much pressure. Memorize this! Recall this! Remember that! Though the highly developed bundle of nerves is capable of more than we will ever understand, even the brain can use some help sometimes. So, we turn to reminders. Everyone has their reminders. My reminders crowd my desk and bulletin board in the form of lists and post-it notes. Other people rely on their phones to tell them when and where they need to be and what they need to remember. Whatever form they take, reminders are our way of giving our brains a helping hand so they can maintain maximum efficiency and NEVER slow down. But, that’s the problem.

If we rely on so many reminders all the time, maybe we should remind ourselves that our brains need a break too. The constant influx of information that results from classes, technology, talking with our friends, and just thinking about what we need to do next keeps us so plugged in to the world that we tend to forget about ourselves.

This past week, while studying for my Physics exam, I found myself getting buried in papers as the time progressed. My desk was covered with to-do lists, problems I still had to work out, and notes I still needed to review. The whole mess was just a reminder that my exam was rapidly approaching, and I had to arm myself with as much knowledge as possible. As I spent hours surrounded by the never ending list of equations and problems, I began to feel run down. My head ached and my throat was parched. I had forgotten to remind myself of something very essential to my success… myself.

I realized that the only reminder I really needed was that one that would tell me to stop, breath, unplug myself from the world, and truly release. My brain just needed a break. It didn’t need to be told what else it had to do or remember, it needed to be told not to do anything at all.

So, after that long winded realization, I have resolved to always have a new kind of reminder. I need a one-word mantra to tell myself to release. There is so much jumbled information inside my head that I have lost all sense of calm. Due to this, my current mantra is calm. When I think calm, I will stop whatever I am doing and take care of the most precious resources for success that I have, my mind and my body.

These bracelets are some one-word reminders that I intend to give to some of my friends. It's similar to the old "tie a string around your finger for the things you need to remember" trick except much simpler and, hopefully, a little more stylish.

Limited Resources

It is THON weekend here! The entire campus is energized with youth, excitement, and, most importantly, hope! THON weekend is the result of a year-long effort, carried out by many individual organizations at Penn State, to raise money for the Four Diamonds fund at the Hershey Medical Center. The Four Diamonds fund helps the families of children with cancer pay for their treatments and instills hope in the hearts of many suffering people. THON itself is a 46 hour no sitting (Compared to what those smiling children have to go through with their treatments, no sitting or sleeping for 46 hours is nothing!) dance marathon. THON is a reminder to all Penn State students that, though buried in stress trying to become astrophysicists and journalists and entrepeneurs, there is still that hint of childhood innocence, and yes, hope left in all of us. We band together, clothed in T-shirts and crazy costumes of many colors, sharing a need for companionship and love with our fellow children. In honor of THON, I decided to adorn myself with something colorful as a reminder that, despite the pressures placed upon me by my cirriculum and my type A personality, I am still a child at heart with vivid dreams, dazzling hopes, and unquenchable passions.

Unfortunately, I did not have my usual jewelry making equiptment with me, so I had to work with limited resources.  I made this bracelet with what I had, some ribbon and a few colorful paper clips. I found it quite difficult to make without my handy-dandy plyers, but I finished it none-the-less. Despite the shoddy craftmanship and the very amateur appearance, I am proud of my little bracelet. The imperfection is a prominent reminder that children are imperfect, but, with their unending faith and love, they can achieve many things!