Life Under the Tower blurbs run in a regular e-newsletter of the same name to students at Belmont University. Archives are here: http://blogs.belmont.edu/underthetower/
Judging from my conversations with some of you recently, November is a big month. Life under the Tower is already busy with multiple showcases, campus events, and the arrival of Basketball season with First on the Floor. Classes are demanding and the push is on, with midterms behind and the last weeks to make or break your grades ahead. Throw in a dose of Life Beyond the Tower and its distractions: the uninvited visit from Sandy in the east and northeast, the din of a presidential election, the potential breakup of the Civil Wars, and the relational or caloric complications of the Thanksgiving holiday, and it might feel like your well-laid plans for the semester might be slipping a bit. Don’t worry, that’s par for the course. November is the time to take stock and make choices; the time to stay the course in some areas, and to step it up in others.
November seems to be the time in the year when you realize that some of the things you anticipated haven’t worked out as expected. In some cases this can be disappointing, but in others it can be a pleasant realization or relief– Turns out, your roommate is less into in personal hygiene than you’d hoped, but your freshman seminar isn’t as daunting as it seemed. Time and attention are harder to come by than you wish, but some great relationships have emerged from the unexpected moments you’ve had “in-between”. The job or internship didn’t open the doors you had in mind, but it’s got you thinking and exploring in a whole new direction.
The thing is, the fall semester rarely tracks just the way you think it should, and November is usually about the time this either dawns on you for the first time or simply becomes impossible to ignore. But just because it hasn’t panned out exactly as you imagined doesn’t mean it’s necessarily bad. In fact, the unexpected twists and turns in the plot line often bring the challenges and opportunities you need most.
As you head into the Thanksgiving Break later this month, spend a little time regrouping, and give a little gratitude to the unexpected things: the relationship you didn’t see coming but now couldn’t do without, the disappointment or failure that beat you up but made you stronger or wiser for the future, the trophy that seemed unreachable but now sits in your case, the loss that knocked you down or drained your spirit, but tuned and tempered your compassion, the opportunity you couldn’t have imagined but now makes you grin when you read this line.
Whatever it might be, challenge yourself to count the Blessings of the Unexpected.
andrewjjohnston 