Sarah, a student athlete on Temple’s Fencing team, lives across the hall from me and it was not surprising to hear how exhausting her schedule is considering we are often forced to have conversations on the go. She described her mental health as “often dictated by my performance at practice and competitions. I’m usually only happy if I do well and I wonder if I deserve to be here when I don’t.”

My older brother Mitchell is an athlete here too, so I was interested in his response next.

He expressed “I feel like I have found a fragile balance between the parts of me that came from home and the life I have established at Temple.” I asked him to elaborate on “fragile.” He explained that he gets easily caught up in nostalgia for home or in contrast he will feel like he isn’t appreciative of the moments he is experiencing now.

Listening to him made me think of my roommates, Adina and Kelly.

While talking to them I jotted down moments when they piggybacked off of each others answers. The most prominent was in reference to our fourth roommate moving out a couple days ago. Both Adina and Kelly acknowledged how a positive dynamic between roommates is an important constant they prioritize maintaining.

Finally I talked to Sam, a professor at Tyler. His answer was brief but a tad humorous. He said “Physically I’m feeling healthy, but like I need to exercise. Mentally I feel like I need spring and sunshine and to be outside.”

These conversations comforted me in a sort of unsettling way. I realized that we are all floating by here at Temple. We aren’t overly happy, but at the same time we aren’t unbearably miserable which is good… I guess.