Everyone struggles...but not that many people talk about it.

Sure, most people will share with their close friends and family when they are struggling with something, or just to make it through life in general, but even to these people we all have moments where we pretend we are not struggling so much or we simply smile and say we're fine sometimes. I always wonder what it would be like to live in a society where everyone openly and fearless admits that yeah, life is fucking hard and some days I'm really struggling to make it to the end and see the light.

I have been quite lucky with this for the last 12 months, as many of the girls I have been randomly placed to live with at the university I have gotten close with. By the time it came to the part of the year that we all had to begin writing our master theses we were already really close and honest with one another. I think this is one of the things that has made it that much easier for me to be able to make it through this master's program, especially being so far from home. We have conversations, sometimes daily but other times every couple of days, where we just sit and kind of pour our hearts out about all the things we're struggling with and the feelings we're having about them, whether it be with our thesis work, trying to get a job, or life in general. It's been so therapeutic to know that I can express these feelings whenever I need to with them. Of course, it's also really reassuring to hear that multiple other people in your life are also having the same feelings, doubts, fears, and struggles as you are and it just proves that you are really not alone (rather than just hearing people say it).

I guess I say this all because, sure, I've had friends in the past that I can have these conversations with but it's never been at the same level of raw honesty as it is for me now. This is something I've always searched for in friends and never fully found until moving almost 4,000 miles away from home and living with people from all different countries. It is so wonderful to find people like this who don't nag and see it as me complaining all the time or being negative.

For me, this has been one of the experiences that has let me know that I have found life-long friends in them.