The Groundhog Day Dilemma

So, yesterday was February 2nd, also known as Groundhog Day. Or, as you non-Americans like to call it, "Monday."

The prediction? Six more weeks of winter. Surprise, surprise.

In any case, the event got me thinking about that classic Bill Murray movie that goes by the same name, in which he relives the same day over and over and over again. And that, in turn, made me think.

What would I do if I had the chance to re-do an entire day?

It's hard for me to come up with a definitive answer. On one hand, if I lost my memories from the first time around, I'd probably wind up making the same decisions. Whenever I choose one path over another, there's a reason behind it. So, I imagine I'd always come to the same conclusion, regrets and everything.

On the other hand, if I did remember (like Bill does in the movie) I think it would be way different. I'd get the chance to explore all those what ifs; to say yes when I said no before; to choose the other path.

But then there's also the thought: What if time were to start up again randomly? The idea that the days would continue on suddenly, especially without me knowing when, brings up a whole new set of questions.

What if you made a decision that would severely shorten your life-span and then had to live with the consequences? Or alternatively, what if you made a risky decision that wound up changing your life in the best possible way?

And that's the core problem of what I've dubbed the "Groundhog Day Dilemma" - no matter how many "do-overs" you get, there's always going to be "what ifs."

My advice? Take each day for what it is. Don't glorify it. Don't dwell on the problems. Be happy for the good things and do your best to accept the things you can't change. Celebrate the good things that came out of today and always strive to have even more to celebrate tomorrow.

Still... a little speculation never hurt anyone. And now I'm curious.

What would you do if you had the chance to start the day over?

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I want to say sorry for the short hiatus. It took some time to get settled in to the new semester, but I'm back now! From now on, I'll be posting every Tuesday. See you soon, and thanks for reading!

Why Start a Blog?

Hello! Let me start by introducing myself. I'm Lindsey Grafe.

As of writing this, I'm a college student who's lived most of my life on the east coast in the good ol' U.S. of A. I enjoy a large variety of things - mostly food - and I spend the majority of my time on the internet. My family and my faith are the most important things to me. Also, I have a bit of an obsession with the sky. And dragons.

Okay, so now you know who I am, and I know what you're thinking. Why in the world are you starting a blog? At least, I'm sure someone is thinking that. And I have an answer for them. Or you. For whoever's asking. And that is this:

Because I can.

...

Honestly, that's the answer. That's it. Really.

Want a little backstory? Alrighty, then.

A couple of nights ago, I tried to go to sleep early and wound up having a slight mental breakdown mixed with a teeny tiny existential crisis. You know, the usual. I realized I was going back to school soon and I didn't want to leave. I didn't want to go back to the constant overwhelming stress of schoolwork and the sub-par wi-fi connection. And although I love my friends, I didn't want to leave my family.

The wave of depression that crashed over me at the thought of going back to school and falling back into the same routine was enough to make me question nearly everything about my life. Am I really pursuing the right career? Do I really want to go through another year of college after this? Is this really what I want to do with my life?

Yes.

So, with that out of the way, I moved on to attempting to figure out why I was feeling so overwhelmed; why I felt like I'd wasted my break, even though I really enjoyed some of the things I did. The answer hit me very clearly once I actually thought about it.

I was bored.

A certain monotony had settled into my daily life. Wake up, spend all day on the computer, go to sleep. Or, alternatively: wake up, spend all day in classes, go to sleep. And even though I'd do something different every once-in-a-while, it was always the same different things. Writing. Reading. Art. Music. It was a bit of a startling realization, but I haven't tried anything new new for a very long time.

Fortunately, most important step to fixing a problem is figuring out what's wrong. So I thought to myself, 'Self, how do you cure boredom?'

Heck if I know.

Time to break out the search engines.

And, what do you know, I found a blog that spoke of ways to break monotony. It made a lot of good points that I logged in the back of my mind for later, but one of the ones that really jumped out at me was 'pursuing something new with vigor.'

Something new, huh? Well, why not blogging? And, voila!

Ultimately, I have lots of ideas that I want to share. I want to get people to see things from a new perspective and to think about things they may not have otherwise. I crave stimulating conversations. I want to learn about the other humans that inhabit this planet and I want to share my knowledge and experiences.

That's all I really want. That's all I've ever really wanted in life.

With that, I'm going to challenge myself: for the next week, I will post something every other day to get used to blogging. I will try to include either pictures or doodles with each post. Once that time is up, I'll continue to update once a week (because that seems pretty manageable for a student).

Let's see where this journey takes us!

(Also, I'm totally counting this as Wednesday, even though it's after midnight here. See you on Friday!)