Fit in to Fitness

July 11th, 2022

I’ve been in some sort of sport for as long as I can remember. When I was little, it was tennis, soccer, and softball. As I got older, basketball and volleyball were added to the mix. I’ve also been doing all forms of dance my entire life – from ballet and tap at the age of five to hip hop and musical theater at the age of twenty-one with plenty of jazz and swing dancing in between. Being active has always been a huge part of my life and I’m planning on keeping it that way. On top of sports, I started working out and getting into fitness in my junior year of high school. I originally started to try to help my mental health but soon found out that I enjoyed working out just for the fun of it as well!I started with home workouts and gradually built until I was lifting almost every day my freshman year of college.

My fitness was at an all time high when COVID-19 started. I had to move back home and suddenly, I went from having 24/7 access to a full gym to competing with my family for the few free weights we had in the basement. I wish I could say that being home got me even more motivated and that I kept up with working out and dancing. That was not the case. 

I fell off my workout schedule very quickly, causing me to lose a lot of my progress. I lost most of my strength, flexibility, and even some mobility from weight gain. The worst part of it all, though, was that my mental health took a serious hit. While lockdown was enough to raise my anxiety on its own, the lack of activity that I suddenly experienced only made it worse. It became even easier to fall into a depressive episode. 

It’s no surprise that failing to be active had a negative impact on my mental health. According to an article written by BetterHealth, exercise can improve energy levels, feelings of control and self esteem, sleep, and distract from negative thoughts. It also helps the brain produce chemicals such as serotonin and endorphins, which can boost mood. In my experience, exercise helps me feel accomplished, confident, and clears my head so I can focus better. Activity has several mental health benefits and, for me, approaching it from that perspective allows me to remove it from negative thoughts about my body. By focusing on the way exercise shifts my brain chemistry, I find it easier to avoid dangerous mindsets around my health. 

For all that fitness does for peoples’ health, the fitness industry itself does not always promote the ideal standard of living. The fitness industry often promotes an unobtainable body standard, pushing people into an unhealthy mindset. On one hand, big fitness brands rarely show people outside of the ideal body type wearing their workout gear. This sends a message that only a certain type of person is “fit” or “healthy,” and causes people to perceive those without that body type as “unhealthy.” In an example in an article by Rejuvage, Gymshark posted a picture of someone outside this unobtainable standard in their gear, prompting many people to criticize them for promoting an “unhealthy lifestyle”. Another byproduct of the fitness industry, is the unhealthy example some fitness influencers set for the general public. Many fitness influencers are praised for having a very slim, muscly figure – few people stop to think about whether or not that figure is obtained by healthy means. Between this, the countless products meant to help people slim down as fast as possible, and diets that restrict calories to obscenely low amounts, the health and fitness industry has become somewhat dangerous to people who are just starting on their fitness journey. It can also be damaging to the self esteem of industry veterans, even though they know that certain standards may be unobtainable. 

Over the past year, I have slowly started to become active again. Dancing in person again with my team has helped a lot. It has allowed me to ease back into activity in a way that I enjoy and with people I enjoy being around. I have also taken time to assess my mental health this past year, which has allowed me to listen to my body and what it needs. I am learning how to work around my own mental barriers by focusing on moving how and when I want to. On days where I have more energy, I can get up and go to the gym. However, on days where I am struggling to get out of bed, I focus on low energy activities like going on a walk. No matter how I feel, I make sure to give myself space, time, and forgiveness for how I’m feeling and what I’m able to accomplish. Fitness isn’t just about how much activity you do but how you treat yourself while you’re working out.

Takeaway: Fitness is important but taking care of yourself in the best way you can is a bigger priority.

One of my favorite snacks after a hard workout is a smoothie. Use this coupon to save 20% off at Serotonin Smoothies with your student ID!

Nothing is better than a smoothie after the gym…or anytime!

By Callie Hedtke

Callie is going to be a senior at DePaul University in Chicago and is studying Graphic Design. She loves dancing and can usually be found at her school’s gym rehearsing for her next dance show. If she’s not there, she can be found at her computer playing video or out exploring.

For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC,  from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourages them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing, and services.  At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.

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Am I Overreacting?

July 11th, 2022

Being in a relationship with a person and expressing our feelings makes us more vulnerable and open. A partner that belittles your feelings and makes you feel that you are going crazy when you point out things that make you upset, is not a partner. If they act this way, then they are not treating you as an equal and they are not making room for your feelings. I think when this occurs within a relationship, it can make you feel that you are going slowly insane; stories keep changing, things you’ve done have been made and exaggerated, and now you can’t recall if you are remembering correctly. It starts you in on this self questioning, again: am I overreacting? Especially when your partner does not give you space for your feelings, you feel as though any feelings you are having are excessive, dramatic and not needed. 

This type of self-questioning that stems from your partner’s reaction to your feelings can be exhausting and suffocating. Your partner is making your experiences seem unreliable and you then start to believe that you are unreliable. 

The truth is you are not overreacting, and you have a right to feel everything you feel on any scale you want or need to feel it. As a participant in this line of self-questioning, I’ve spent many days thinking about this in every type of situation I have been in. I may continue to obsess over every interaction and conversation to make sure I remember everything correctly, as a means to justify my emotions. But, it is important to hear and listen to that voice that tells you “Hey, I’m very happy or upset, and I am allowed to feel that emotion to its full extent.”

Image Credit: https://clipart.world

Author Robert Porter goes in-depth and examines how constant emotional invalidation affects our relationships to self and individual in his article, “Effects of Emotional Invalidation” for ReGain.us. If your partner is engaging in this type of emotional invalidation, it can make you believe you are overreacting in situations and it can impact your feelings and your relationship with your own experiences and emotions. Porter describes how emotional invalidation can happen even without purposeful intent to make it happen. And this invalidation can look like having a dismissive nature when your partner is telling you their feelings or experience, or forcing them to feel positive emotions instead of any other emotion they are feeling. Porter then discusses that in the long-term this reaction can lead to your partner hiding their feelings and not telling you their experiences or feelings. Some possible solutions to stop this invalidation, include starting to listen more deeply and recognizing that your partner is their own person and will respond differently to a situation than you might. I can honestly say having been subject to emotional invalidation in the past, I have caught myself now invalidating things that my partner is telling me about his experiences. Oftentimes, I am able to catch myself in these moments and I apologize to him and let him tell him what was happening and how he was feeling without interjecting or dismissing. I let him tell me how he feels and express in any way he wants.

Overall, if you find yourself inwardly posing the question “am I overreacting?” discuss with your partner the ways you feel that their reactions may be invalidating your own emotions. Emotional invalidation can take a toll on you as an individual, your relationship, and how we relate to our own experiences. It’s important to listen to your partner and allow space for all these feelings in your relationship.

On another note, if you are in NYC maybe take a date night out to Amorino Gelato and Cafe and get 20% when you show this coupon and your student ID!

By: Ashley Geiser 

Ashley Geiser is a Junior studying English with a concentration in Creative Writing at Pace University. She is also the Editor-in-Chief and Co-President for Her Campus at Pace. She loves reading and editing. And when she is not reading or editing, she can be found baking in her kitchen.

For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC,  from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourages them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing, and services.  At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.

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on classroom camaraderie

July 11th, 2022

Let me set the scene: It’s 2018. I’m a freshman. I’m in a foundations class, the kind where we’d learn basic art student stuff- rudimentary color theory, composition, how to create a focal point. It’s mid-September. By now, a quarter of the class has distinguished themselves as Good Artists, a quarter’s revealed themselves as Artists So Bad We’re Wondering How They Got Here, and the other half of us are just… average. 

A few rows ahead of me sits this absolute whiz kid. Their work has style, it has voice. They use layers. They make digital art like it’s nothing, their Apple stylus sweeping over the current assignment they’ve started up in Procreate. Our professor, making laps around the classroom, takes a pit stop at their desk. “Great job,” he says, before going on to compliment their use of space. 

They are a Good Artist. 

I look down at my own paper filled with loose sketches. I think about Whiz Kid those few rows ahead of me. Their work is a Renaissance masterpiece and mine is incomprehensible. I feel the usual twinge of jealousy settle into my stomach and, in that moment, I can’t help but think, “I’ll never be on that level.”

a person watching a peer a few seats ahead.
Staring down the competition from afar…

Flash forward to 2022.

Whiz Kid is having a graduation party and I’m invited. When I show up, all the best students of the class are there, and we eat fondue and laugh and have a grand old time. It’s amazing. At one point, I say to them, not for the first time, “You know, freshman year, I thought you were so intimidatingly cool.”

They laugh. “Dude, I always thought you were so cool!”

The night goes on. We socialize, we party- we even do a few little drawing games (you can graduate art school, but you never stop being an art student). Someone brings up the idea of maybe starting a collective, doing big group projects, moving forward as a team.

As we celebrate the culmination of these four years, I find myself wondering: how did I let myself miss out on being close to such a cool group of people?

The answer is simple, clear, and ultimately unsurprising: academic competition. 

It sprouted in kindergarten, where I just had to be at the highest reading level for a five-year-old. It plagued me in high school, where an A- just wasn’t a good enough grade. So, of course, it followed me to college too. The thing is, it follows everyone. 

In a study done by Julie R. Posselt and Sarah Ketchen Lipson, the duo found that heightened academic stress and perceived competition had increased the rates of mental illness in college students (“Competition, Anxiety, and Depression..”). According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 25% of college students were diagnosed with or treated for a mental illness- and that’s just the ones who could afford to see a therapist. When you’re surrounded by a myriad of great minds, it’s easy to feel like the least capable among them. Imposter syndrome is a very real struggle, and once it sets in and tells you that you’re not good enough, anxiety is swift to follow, because what if everyone else thinks you’re a fraud, too?

When you’re in the throes of feeling like the worst, it’s easy to forget there’s other people who feel the same way about themselves, too. 

There’s no catch-all solution to imposter syndrome and the pressure of academic competition, but therapy and peer support are a great place to start. In an article from the Journal of Food Science Education, Shelly J. Schmidt hones in on how friendship actually boosts academic success at the college level (“The importance of friendships for academic success”). Students were “approximately 16 times more likely to become study partners with a friend than a nonfriend,” which indicates not a preference of social life over academics, but a preference to learn alongside people that provide an environment of encouragement. They were ready to engage with new material; it just helped to do it with friends.

a pair of friends studying from a comically-large book titled "textbooks 101."
It’s easier to get stuff done when working through it with a pal!

By bonding with peers and developing a sense of camaraderie, students were able to foster connections that made them better learners. Doing work alongside people you care about makes it feel way less like work- it turns it into an opportunity to learn and grow. It’s scary to befriend the competition, but you’ll feel way better once you start building each other up.

From an art student perspective, it’s so easy to envy different abilities. But no one’s going to do what you’re doing. Just because someone else develops work with an amazing voice, it doesn’t mean yours is inherently worse- it just means you and your peers are doing different things. Do you in a way no one else can, and be proud of your peers for doing the same. Who knows? Maybe if you get really close to them, you’ll get to go to a grad party with fondue.

two different styles of art with the subheading "good... aannd also good."
Skill has so many different looks.

tl;dr: different isn’t always better or worse- don’t let competition stop you from making friends!

Wanna create some interesting new art with the cool peers you just learned how to approach? Check out Blick Art Materials! 

By presenting your student ID and your Campus Clipper coupon, you’ll score 10% off your purchase. Check it out- they literally have everything, and it’s always so much fun to poke around and look for new mediums.

By Ness Curti

Ness Curti is a freshly-graduated illustrator from the Lesley College of Art and Design. A part-time bobarista and full-time New England adventurer, they hope to one day tell stories for a living, whether through art or words. They enjoy doodling, procrastinating, and saying hello to the dogs they pass on the sidewalk.

For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC,  from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourages them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing, and services.  At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.

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Songwriting and Publishing: Continuous Collaboration

July 10th, 2022

Continuous Collaboration 

Although I like to consider myself a naturally bold and confident person, there are definitely moments where I struggle with feeling small. This appears most of the time whenever I’m creating something. I always think “I’m one person in a sea of seven billion people, what could I possibly contribute? What makes me different from the next guy?” These horrible thoughts often wrap around my brain and cause me to doubt myself more than I should. It is hard to put yourself out there and give the world the most vulnerable parts of yourself and with songwriting, or any art form really, it’s exposing the deepest, most genuine sides of my story for everyone to see. That’s a scary thing, which often if not most of the time, stops me from ever sharing my songs with anyone. It’s the fear of rejection or humiliation that sends me over the edge and I’ll admit that, but that’s what runs the music industry. You have to show your songs to people or you’ll never get feedback or criticism and that, in the end, will ultimately never get you to where you want to go. So, if you feel small, then start small. You don’t have to send your music straight away to big record labels or other musicians, but try a friend or someone close to you. 

Usually, when I finish a song or even a part of a song, I’ll send it to a close friend and ask them what they think. I always enforce brutal honesty even though the truth is hard to hear. It’s important to know that not everyone is going to like what you put out because music taste is a spectrum. I was taught when I was little “Not everyone is going to like you and that’s okay.” Music is the same thing: not everyone is going to like your music and that is more than okay; it’s not a personal thing, it’s a music thing. I still get nervous jitters after I hit the send button even when sharing my music with my friends, but it’s normal. If they love it then great, if they don’t then I want to know what their suggestions are. It’s important to take constructive criticism in stride and always know that your friends want you to succeed.  

In songwriting, collaboration is key. You’ll never get a good song unless you’re open to collaborating. Friends are a great source of collaboration for me, especially since I go to a college full of artistic and creative people who have, more or less, had much experience in music. When talking to friends, I tend to gather new ideas or concepts that I’ve never thought of before. It’s also very interesting listening to their stories and experiences with music to incorporate into my own writing style. Whether that be stylistic choices or a funky melody, I love experimenting with ideas to create something new. Although I often feel small alone, another friend or two’s encouragement and guidance make me more confident in reaching my final product. Collaboration is an essential part of the songwriting process for me because it gives me the insight to not only what musicians like, but also what my audience would like and really who my audience is going to be. 

It will always be nerve-wracking for me to share my music and to be honest, I don’t think it will ever be easy, however, there are ways to feel more confident about it. One thing I like to keep in mind is that if it makes you too comfortable, then you’re doing something wrong. Comfortability keeps us locked in our ways, never trying something new or experiencing change. It’s so cliche but it’s true. If you get too comfortable, then you’ll never break out of your bubble. Although it’s often the scary things that make us uncomfortable, like putting our art out into the world, it allows evolution to take place, whether that be through the music itself or a personal journey and that’s big.  

Save 10% off of your next purchase with this coupon at Blick Art Materials!

By Megan Grosfeld

Megan Grosfeld is a Junior at Emerson College majoring in Writing, Literature, and Publishing with a concentration in Publishing. Her dream is to be like the modern Carrie Bradshaw of the Publishing world, but with more writing, sex, and infinite pairs of Manolo Blahniks.

For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC, from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourages them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing, and services. At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.

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Who Are You Written By?

July 9th, 2022

I come across so many different social media trends as I indulge in my guilty pleasure of scrolling through TikTok. One that stuck out to me was the “Who am I written by?” trend. This past March, TikTok users were asking their followers this question, meaning they wanted to know which musical artist they look like they’re associated with depending on their style, hobbies, and interests. Someone who dresses early 2000s grunge and is experiencing their first heartbreak might feel represented by Olivia Rodrigo. Someone who loves vintage Hollywood glam probably finds themselves listening to Lana Del Rey.

Personally, I feel like Taylor Swift’s music is the soundtrack to my life. Every emotion I feel can be tied back to one of her songs. She has a lyric written for everything I have experienced throughout my life. Taylor Swift has been there for my middle school crushes, high school heartbreaks, and navigating adulthood. I knew I was “written by Taylor Swift” when her lyrics so easily applied to my own life. When I first heard “If you never bleed you’re never gonna grow” from her song “the 1,” I felt a bit more secure experiencing changes in my life and taking risks knowing I was not alone in feeling uncertain. When I look back at the hardships I’ve faced, I am proud of how I’ve worked past them to get to where I am now. I find comfort in this idea being vocalized by an artist I admire, especially knowing there are millions of other listeners feeling the same way.

Listening to Taylor Swift on my record player.

With an artist like Taylor Swift who has so many iconic eras, there is an album for everyone. I always come back to folklore because it focuses on different relationship dynamics and I love the way it captures what a “sad girl summer” is all about. I always think back to a lyric from my favorite song on the album, “august,” which is “To live for the hope of it all.” This one line sums up how I feel in all aspects of my life. I live for the hope that all my dreams and aspirations will begin to unfold. I’ve always stood by the idea that whatever is meant to happen will enter my life whether it be a person, job, or hobby. This has gotten me through periods of change.

I can pretty much say I am written by Taylor Swift because she is the one artist that comforts all my feelings of sadness, joy, and hopefulness. I specifically connect to folklore because no matter the time of year, when I listen to this album, I picture myself daydreaming on the beach while my worries slip away. I love how we can feel personally represented by our favorite artist, even if it’s simply based on our inner thoughts. Finding that one artist that feels special to you can make every day feel like a new experience.

A picture I took on Cornelia Street in the West Village where Taylor Swift used to live that has inspired multiple songs on her album Lover.

Whoever it is, your favorite artist can help guide you through the situations you face. To figure out who you’re “written by,” start to pay attention to what songs you associate with both your heartbreaks and happy moments. If it is not an artist, maybe it’s your favorite author or fictional character. So yes, listen to your sad songs playlist while staring out the window of a car. Or dance around in your room while a song about your first love plays on repeat. Sing your heart out with your friends while getting ready for an unpredictable night. Music intensifies all the moments in our lives, no matter how significant they are.

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By Jacqueline Rappa

Jacqueline Rappa is a rising senior at the Fashion Institute of Technology studying Advertising and Marketing Communications with a minor in English. You can find her aimlessly walking around New York City while drinking an iced coffee and listening to her favorite albums on repeat.

For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC,  from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourages them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing, and services.  At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.

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Remix: DJ Downfalls

July 7th, 2022

The trial and error of joining new clubs as a college freshman can best be described as the search for a safety net of familiar eyes in an unfamiliar space. As a newcomer to WNUR, Northwestern’s radio station, I was eager to find friends among a roomful of other radio apprentices, strangers united by a love for underground music. Despite the kinship formed through a series of mixtape exchanges and welcoming mentors, self-doubt persisted. One time, my friend and I debated going to a mixer held at a senior’s off-campus house for two hours – by the time we worked up the courage to go, the event had ended. 

When sophomore year began online due to the pandemic, the shaky decisions that I made as a freshman became cemented in time as I found myself unable to branch out socially and extracurricularly. Meanwhile, WNUR struggled to adapt to this new remote setting. Maintaining the community without the ability to gather in-person proved nearly impossible, and we could no longer host our shows in person. Recording music on a laptop for two hours at home simply did not compare to the experience of going into the On Air Control Room, sitting among the expanse of radio equipment and tens of thousands of records and CDs dating back to the 70s in the backroom known as ‘the stacks.’ I missed the magic of the stacks, a time capsule where every square inch from floor to ceiling is filled with precarious piles of music, with reviews and unsolicited opinions from WNUR members across the decades scribbled in sharpie on the album covers for future radio hosts like me to peruse. Most importantly, between the radio hosts, friends, apprentices, and curious visitors, there was a constant flow of like-minded people coming through the OACR. The constant buzz of activity dwindled away as in-person activities halted. 

Using radio equipment to air my radio show from the OACR

With some extra time on my hands and a hankering for new connections, I decided to join Streetbeat, a club that plays electronic and house music on the radio, where students can learn how to DJ. Although I was pretty intimidated by the idea of learning how to DJ, I had nothing to lose and decided to give it a try. In weekly zoom meetings, I met club members and learned the ins and outs of DJing, from creating a music library and navigating DJ software to mixing techniques. Along with the mentor whom I was paired with, everyone in the club was friendly and eager to help. One Streetbeat member invited me to their radio show and used their own air time to show me the ropes; another offered to lend me his mixing board so that I could practice at home. By the end of the semester, I had recorded an hour-long mix, and was ready to take on my own radio show as a house music DJ. 

Although I was thrilled to start DJing on the air, I immediately encountered some unexpected challenges. The segments reserved for Streetbeat are between 10pm and 3am, and as a newcomer, my time slot that first semester was at 1am. More often than not, the last thing I wanted to do at 12:30am on a Tuesday night was go to campus, and it was a struggle to make it out of the house. In addition, despite the support I found attending other DJs’ shows, it was up to me to successfully coordinate my own show. The equipment in the OACR has a daunting array of buttons, and I felt lost without a helping hand by my side. During my first attempt at a show, I couldn’t find the on/off switch for the DJ equipment, and the next week, it took me half an hour and lots of google searches to locate the volume knob. I also had a lot of trouble getting my music on the equipment, which would only accept input from a USB, and required the use of outdated and glitchy technology that I had no idea how to troubleshoot. It was frustrating to show up at 1am, just to find myself unable to play any music. On top of that, the skill gap between me and the other, more established DJs was intimidating, and it seemed impossible that I would ever be able to navigate the DJ board with the dexterity and confidence that they effortlessly exuded. 

Trying something new is never glamorous. It is clumsy and awkward, and you have to accept failure – and an occasional, very public flop – as part of the deal. As I immersed myself in the world and community of DJing, I learned that an adventurous attitude will only get you to the starting line. In order to continue to pursue something in face of the challenges,  persistence is necessary. What continued to propel me forward through these roadblocks was my passion for music. Even defeated walks home after failed radio shows, I was exhausted but ultimately satisfied, knowing that I was doing something for myself, investing in my future. With every failed attempt or small success, I felt myself nearing a more authentic version of myself, and this understanding carried me through my door and to the radio station at one in the morning that next Tuesday night.

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By Lu Poteshman

Lu is a rising senior at Northwestern University, where she studies English Literature with a minor in Art, Theory and Practice. She is passionate about all things music and art, and loves to paint, draw, design things, write creatively, cook and explore in her free time. She is currently working towards her dreams of being a book editor by day and DJ by night.

For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC,  from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourages them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing, and services.  

At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.

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Redefining Success

July 7th, 2022

One thing that people don’t tend to tell you when you’re young is that success shouldn’t just be one eventual endpoint. For me, at least, growing up there was a specific idea of success that everyone was expected to adhere to – college and maybe a master’s degree followed by a stable job and financial security. Apart from that, there didn’t seem to be much else. There was no guideline for how to enjoy yourself, to find meaningful relationships or just be happy, as though these parts of life weren’t aspects of  “success.” Coupled with my tendency for perfectionism, this restricted perspective of success became all I was striving for. 

I gradually fell into the mindset that life was just one thing after the other, and though I worked towards each milestone consistently, it was hard to really feel a sense of accomplishment at any point. When I graduated from high school, for example, I didn’t find myself feeling much different. There was a bit of relief, of course, and some sense of excitement, but in my mind I was going off to college, and that was just another checkpoint I had to reach before moving onto the next. I think in my pursuit of that final image of “success,” I’ve missed out on celebrating and learning from a lot of the experiences I’ve already had, forgetting all of the things I worked at to get to where I was in favor of a single-minded focus on what I had to do next. Instead of each event being an individual instance of achievement, they’ve all been routinely filed away as just another step towards that final idea of “success”. 

Not to say that this a “wrong” way of living – it’s a good thing to work towards long-term goals, after all – but it was a method that wasn’t really working for me anymore. The idea of chasing after some “final” state  of great success was wearing me down, and it made me wonder when I would actually get to enjoy myself instead. I started noticing that I was putting off many of the things that I wanted to do, telling myself that I would travel or try new experiences only once I was financially stable and “successful,” regardless of how much I wanted to do so in the present. It struck me one day that if I kept on putting off the things that I enjoy and want to do until some eventual “later,” how do I know I won’t continue to put those things off for some other sense of duty when that later finally comes? What if I end up delaying my gratification forever, until I eventually lose the opportunity to enjoy myself at all? The thought of this scared me. 

One of the ways I’ve been working on relaxing and finding enjoyment is spending more time outdoors!

In the aftermath of this realization, I’ve been working on redefining what that feeling of “success” should be. While I definitely am still working towards all of those predetermined goals, I’ve been trying to move away from thinking of them as the be all and end all of my efforts. Research has shown that understanding goals and achievements as a journey, with a focus on the process that led to the goal, helps people retain motivation and positive habits they’ve built up throughout their journey. That’s the sort of mindset I want to put myself in. Instead of working single-mindedly towards a specific goal while forgetting almost everything else, I want to take it slow, working just as hard as before, but allowing myself to enjoy the things I want to do. By redefining success as sustaining my ability to work hard towards my goals, I can move the emphasis away from the achievement itself, and start to realize how the process of getting to my goals has enriched my life. 

Use this student discount for a bit of self-care in preparation for taking on another day!

By: Fiona Lin

Fiona Lin is a rising senior at New York University’s Abu Dhabi Campus pursuing a double major in Literature and Creative Writing and Art and Art History. She enjoys traveling, drinking tea, and learning new languages. In her free time, you can find her reading web novels or playing video games.

For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC,  from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourages them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing, and services.  At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.

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Health, Beauty, and Body Image

July 6th, 2022

When I was at dance a few weeks ago, I was looking at myself in the mirror and made a passing comment about how I wished my stomach was thinner. This immediately got a reaction from all of my friends around me. 

“No, you’re so pretty though!”

“At least you have nice arms.”

“Same, I look so ugly.”

 Everything they hated about their bodies were things that I hated about mine at one point; everything they said to tell me how pretty I was were things that I have said countless times to countless people. Despite our best efforts and our growing knowledge on the subject, we still attached body image, health, and beauty as one big package as if we couldn’t have one without the others. Even comments meant to build others up are, in one way or another, tied to this idea that we have to be skinny and fit to be beautiful.

I have always been a very healthy person and have enjoyed being active throughout my life. My lifestyle often reflected itself in my weight. I used to tie how healthy and beautiful I was to the number on the scale. This mentality was also held by the people around me, with my mother especially always encouraging us to be fit. This became a problem when COVID-19 hit and I had to quarantine in my home. I lost my healthy lifestyle and have struggled to gain it back since. This has resulted in a lot of weight gain and, with the weight, came the anxiety around how I looked. 

It’s hard to fight the thoughts telling you that you’re ugly and pathetic when everything around you seems to be agreeing with them. 

This became even more difficult when I came back to dance and realized that almost every other person was skinnier than me. I felt like I stuck out like a sore thumb and this did not help my feelings of inadequacy and ugliness. I was suddenly uncomfortably aware of the weight I had gained and, even if no one else noticed, it frequently sent me into spirals of negative self talk about my body. 

Ideal Beauty Standards for women over the past 100 years

The beauty standards of today are impossibly warped. We have been conditioned to believe that one specific body type is the best and everyone without it is ugly. This especially affects women, who feel pressured to conform to society’s beauty standards because that is sometimes the only thing that is valued. However, with the ever-changing standards, many women feel like nothing is good enough – they are constantly being asked to change themselves for everyone else. According to an article published by Bradley University, “the “perfect” woman was described as 5’5”, 128 pounds, with a 26-inch waist” which is nearly impossible to achieve. Beauty standards do not only affect women. Oftentimes, men are also facing unrealistic standards pushed by the fitness and fashion industry. All of this results in a mix up of what is healthy and what is beautiful and people seem to think that they go hand in hand. 

I soon came to realize that it wasn’t just my weight or my body type that was bothering me, but my ability to move. Oftentimes, when I said “I’m so fat,” what I actually meant was “I don’t feel like I can move the way I used to.” I found it harder to perform certain dance moves the way I used to. I found it more difficult to stretch or reach or even leap the way I was used to. During one of my first rehearsals after quarantine, I was doing a stretch and found it extremely difficult to do. Because I had more weight around my waist, I wasn’t able to bend the way I used to without it getting in the way. This revelation coupled with a surge of anxiety almost had me crying in the middle of practice. I felt like I was losing my ability to do what I wanted to do and, with it, any chance I had of being beautiful. 

I know I’m not the only one who thinks like this. The amount of times I’ve made a comment about feeling fat only to have the rebuttal be “but you’re beautiful” is too numerous to count. According to a blog post on Beauty Schools Directory, children as young as four can develop weight bias and see it as a negative thing to be heavier. It’s ingrained in our society and impacts how we think about both health and beauty. The fitness industry doubles down on this ingrained mindset by selling us the idea that health equals skinny and that’s what makes you attractive. It’s very easy to get caught up in the cycle of thinking that all of these things are tied together. 

It’s taken me a long time to separate my weight from my health and my health from my confidence in my looks. I’m still working on it every day. However, I’ve slowly begun to accept that health and beauty are two separate things. One does not dictate the other. You are not ugly just because you picked a burger over a salad, and you are not healthy just because you fit society’s idea of beauty. This realization has helped me reframe how I think about myself and my goals. Now, instead of thinking about how I wish my stomach was thinner, I can say that I wish I had more core strength to be able to do more dance moves. This gives me a clear goal to work towards while separating how I look and how I feel. I am slowly learning to make lifestyle changes for my own health and goals rather than what I think will make me beautiful. I already am beautiful.

Takeaway: Health and beauty are separate and one does not dictate the other.

No matter how you feel about yourself, you deserve to be pampered. Use this coupon to treat yourself to a fun spa day!

By: Callie Hedtke

Callie is going to be a senior at DePaul University studying Graphic Design. She loves dancing and can usually be found at her school’s gym rehearsing for her next dance show. If she’s not there, she can be found at her computer playing video games with her friends or out hiking with her family.

For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC,  from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourages them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing, and services.  At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.

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You Too Can Tutor!

July 6th, 2022

When you think of tutoring, what comes to mind? An expert in a difficult subject who teaches someone younger? Tutoring is a much broader category than many of us realize, and it is an excellent way to earn some additional income as a college student. You may not be an expert in anything yet—I guarantee that I’m not—but we all have skills that someone else wants to learn.

My first tutoring gig was helping a neighbor with his middle school math homework. This made sense when I was in high school, but when I started college, I felt my tutoring opportunities had dried up. I was a freshman; there was no one younger than me around to teach! I was useless if someone wanted help with the more advanced stuff like, say, calculus. It was only when I saw a flyer for a returning student seeking a tutor that I realized I had been thinking inside the box.

Opportunities are everywhere—keep your eyes open!
Image credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bjmccray/515435761

I emailed the address on the flyer. The student I tutored was a kind, forty-something woman who was going back to college. She was a nurse but wanted to further her education. Because she had been away from higher education for a while, she was unfamiliar with or had forgotten about what are currently staples of the classroom: things like Google Slides, MLA format, and more. She was looking for someone to help her catch up on the technology, format assignments, and proofread papers. These were all skills I had as a current student. Until then, they felt so much like second nature to me that I hadn’t even considered them to be marketable skills.

She and I worked together for several months, and then she recommended me to a friend of hers who was also returning to school. As a younger student, I was inspired by these returning students’ motivation and bravery. I was glad to be able to help them start off on the right foot.

Older students, younger, or even your peers, there are almost definitely people near you who could use some help with a skill you have. Most of us have the technology skills that I tutored for, but there are endless options. Are you artistic? Someone may want to learn the basics of drawing. Musical? I know I could use some help learning how to read sheet music. If you’re that person I’ll never be, the calculus expert, I promise there are people who need you as a tutor too. Teach a new skill, help someone pass a class, go along on a returning student’s journey, and earn some extra cash for the knowledge you already have.

Takeaways:

  • When it comes to tutoring, you already have marketable skills
  • People of all ages and education levels may need a tutor—keep an eye out for opportunities
Use this coupon to save on a coffee from Colomba Bakery before your next tutoring sesh!

By: Kelsie Lynn

Kelsie Lynn is a rising junior at New York University studying communications and creative writing. She is probably in a coffee shop right now working on her latest short story draft.

For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC,  from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourages them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing, and services.  At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.

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Needing

July 6th, 2022

I gasp in joy and relief as the bottom panel of the pod finally comes free. I let go of the pliers I had been using to pry the metal panel away and grab the little bottle full of juice; my ambrosia. I squeeze the bottle, filling the tiny pod with the nicotine infused liquid. Piecing the pod back together, I shove the plastic into the device. The “dizzy” is so close, but my obstacles are not over. I take a pull from the vape, and a sour, burning taste floods my mouth. I run to the sink and spit, the vape juice still tingling on my tongue. My nose and eyes scrunch at the offensive taste, and I gulp some water.

I cough, then bring the vape back to my lips.

I went to great lengths to continue to have the “dizzy” in my life. I couldn’t let it go. I wanted that lovely feeling to stay. I didn’t want to go without it. I sank to new lows. In some places, cigarettes were easier to buy than vapes, and so, for a few weeks, I would obtain my “dizzy” through the acrid scent of smoke. Despite the nausea, the smell seeping into my hair, clothes, and room, and the slightly different “dizzy,” I was still drawn in. Turns out, this wasn’t a want. It was a need.

The “dizzy” not only drove my days; it became the only thing I looked forward to. Taking classes online, stuck in my dorm all alone, having nothing but more monotony for the foreseeable future, the “dizzy” was a reward for making it through a few hours. I wasn’t looking to my future. I could barely look forward to the next week. I knew there were cons of vaping, but in the moment, planning my next “dizzy” was often the only thing that kept me going.

Cold, dreary, lonely days at the peak of my dependence.

I knew at this point that I needed to quit. The habit was stupid expensive, and I hated spending my hard-earned money on something that made my lungs feel so weak. I also knew my family didn’t want me to be doing it. Most people find the habit annoying, and I knew it was embarrassing to want to leave my friends in order to find the “dizzy” back at my dorm or even in a bathroom stall. Still, something held me back.

A few things, actually. First of all, lots of people around me vaped. I saw so many college students around my campus with brightly colored disposable vapes. Their flavors were never super important to me personally, but thetruth.com cites an article on flavored e-cigarette use in youth and young adult users, stating that out of all 18-29 year olds who vape, 92% started with a flavor of some kind. The smoke shop across the street from my campus doesn’t I.D., and they sell pricey disposables to fiending college kids. As one of those students, I would frequently find myself stopping by to pick up a new device, dropping a ridiculous amount of money for something that would maybe last me five days. No one else around me was quitting. Everyone was vaping, and no one else seemed to genuinely want to stop. The lack of solidarity in the idea of quitting scared me, and so I stayed on the fence. 

My own fear that I couldn’t do it, that I wasn’t strong enough to destroy this addiction, also kept me anchored in my nicotine usage. I knew that quitting would be hard. I knew from the times when I didn’t have a vape or access to any nicotine how awful it felt to be without it. On thetruth.com, a study exploring changes in mental health after quitting smoking is referenced: “Symptoms of nicotine withdrawal can feel like depression, anxiety, and irritability.” This is why so many people try to quit and fail. They give into the cravings when the quit becomes unbearable. 

I didn’t want to fail, so I didn’t want to try.

Use this coupon to get 20% off smoothies, coffee, and juices at Serotonin Smoothies! Make sure to bring your student I.D. and a craving for a fruity drink!

By Sophie Rounds

Sophie Rounds is a rising junior at Loyola University Chicago, double majoring in creative writing and Spanish. She loves to read and wishes she were a better cook. When she is not reading or writing, she enjoys singing in several choirs at her university and thrifting with her friends.

For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC,  from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourages them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing, and services.  At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.

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