So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they're busy doing things they think are important. This is because they're chasing the wrong things.

It really bugs me when I ask someone how they are, and they respond, "I'm so busy." It really, really irritates me when people use, "I can't. I'm so busy," as an excuse not to do something. Look around you: everyone is busy. That busy-ness you're feeling? It's called life. And just because someone else's busy doesn't look like your busy doesn't mean they aren't busy.

College is a busy time: we're going to class, doing homework, writing papers, studying for tests, staying involved in student organizations, maintaining our social lives, working, eating, sleeping, surviving. Yes, college is a busy time, but that's part of what makes it so fun. It's such an amazing opportunity to try new things and meet new people and create who we want to be.

There's no such thing as being too busy. First of all, if you want something, you'll make time for it. Second of all, it's all about priorities.

How wild it was, to let it be.

A couple of weeks ago, my mom and my sister and I went to see Cheryl Strayed speak. Cheryl Strayed is a writer and the author of Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, which is about her experience hiking the PCT. I loved Wild when I read it, but after I heard Cheryl speak, I discovered I relate to her even more than I had previously realized.

Cheryl decided to hike the PCT a couple of years after her mother died. In those years between when her mother passed and when she hiked the PCT, Cheryl's life kind of spiraled out of control. She cheated on her husband, used drugs, and just lived a life she wasn't happy with. As Cheryl put it in her talk, she had decided to continue her life after her mother died in a way that would best honor her. She had decided not to thrive because she couldn't bear the thought of living without her.

Cheryl's absolute love for her mother in as portrayed in Wild is something that I so deeply connected to when I read the book. Simply put: I absolutely love my mother and can't imagine how I would go on without her. Without her mother, Cheryl is simply broken, and I would be the same way if I were to lose my mother.

I love New York, even though it isn’t mine, the way something has to be, a tree or a street or a house, something, anyway, that belongs to me because I belong to it.

The Back Story

One of my favorite movies of all time is The Devil Wears Prada. I love the fashion and the magazine and, of course, New York City.

Honestly, a lot of my favorite movies take place in New York, and that might be why they're on my list of favorites. It always just looks so exciting, and growing up, I dreamed of living there one day.

Four years ago I visited New York for the first time. My sister was out there doing an internship at House Beautiful magazine because she's totally awesome and smart and talented. My mom and I went out there for a weekend over spring break to visit, making one of my biggest dreams come true.