“You do not have to be good/ you do not have to walk on your knees/ for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.”

-Mary Oliver “Wild Geese”

The end of the semester is a time for deep reflection. When I reflect on my semester, I always find that I beat myself up for all the things I did wrong. But why? It doesn’t make me change my bad habits, it just makes me feel bad. And I never do anything horribly wrong. Each semester my biggest sins are procrastinating and maybe spending a little too much money. It seems silly that I treat myself like a horrible person for doing that.

This semester, I (and I hope if you relate you will as well) will stop feeling bad about the mistakes you made, take it as a learning lesson and move on.

-Charlotte Shields-Rossi