My roommate Hollee and I were sitting in her room, trying to think of something to talk about. It wasn\u2019t the first time we\u2019d talked long enough to run out of topics, and I had a strategy for times like these. I know it sounds weird, but I opened Safari and Googled \u201csuper deep questions.\u201d\u00a0 We\u2019ve both expressed a distain for small talk.<\/p>\n
I scrolled through lists upon lists calling out random ideas and questions. We ran through the easy topics too quickly, but then landed on a question that I found interesting.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs it harder for you to look someone in the eye while you tell them how you feel or when they\u2019re telling you how they feel?\u201d<\/p>\n
She and I both took a second to recognize how difficult it can be for us to speak openly and honestly about our feelings. I think most people can relate to that. Writing columns like this one is kind of my way of opening up a bit about myself without actually having to look anyone in the eye while I do it. But sometimes, I need a response. I don\u2019t want to need it, but I do.<\/p>\n
At this point, Hollee probably knows me better than she ever actually wanted to. I\u2019ve opened up to her little by little and been more honest with her than I have with many others in the past. I think my roommate from freshman\u00a0 year made it easier for me to do that.<\/p>\n
Mariah McClellan was, without a doubt, the best freshman roommate I could\u2019ve had. At a time of such unfamiliarity and change, I think we both needed someone new to rant and relate to.<\/p>\n
We met in person for the first time a few days before that first semester started. It\u2019s rare for me to feel at ease around someone I\u2019ve just met, but I remember already feeling comfortable while we sat at Slader\u2019s getting to know one another.<\/p>\n
She was open and easy to talk to. I remember telling her tons of stories about my family and her telling me stories about her friends from back home. We compared music taste and political stances. We shared our memories and our secrets. Some nights we would stay up late just talking about all kinds of things, like religion or our past hardships.<\/p>\n
Throughout the year, we talked to each other about all the things that bugged us and talked through difficult decisions together. She always gave great advice and knew how to put things in perspective. I learned a lot from her freshman year.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve sort of fallen out of touch, but I still feel like she would be there for me if I needed her help. And I would definitely drop whatever I was doing at the moment if she needed mine.<\/p>\n
There have been times in the past where I felt like there wasn\u2019t anyone I could honestly talk to, and it was too difficult to tell people how I felt. During those times, I remember feeling so lonely and isolated. After so long of bottling things up, it was easy to feel overwhelmed. I would often blow things out of proportion because I would spend too long thinking about them without saying them out loud.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s important to have someone you can trust with your secrets and emotions. I know it can be really hard to initiate a friendship like that or to share that first secret, but those friends are so important for your sanity.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m so thankful for people like Mariah, people that listen and understand so easily. The people who don\u2019t ask for anything in return, but are always there to lend an ear and some advice. I\u2019m thankful for people like her that make it easier to trust others.<\/p>\n
I challenge you to be that kind of friend for others and to look around and recognize these friends in your life \u2014 tell them thank you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My roommate Hollee and I were sitting in her room, trying to think of something to talk about. It wasn\u2019t the first time we\u2019d talked long enough to run out…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14924,"featured_media":9250,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[78,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns","category-opinions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14924"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10379"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10379\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10380,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10379\/revisions\/10380"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}