COLE

12/9/24 at 5:11pm

Senior studying Theatre

What do you look forward to every day when you wake up?

I usually try to schedule one thing each day that I have to look forward to. So it changes. It can be plans with friends, a trip to the coffee shop, I just like to keep myself exposed to something new every day. I’ve learned that’s good for me. 

What motivates you?

Being around friends motivates me. And trying to make a positive difference in the world. That happens through my work, I hope. Just today, an article I wrote for the Daily was published. The piece focused on my barber here in Ann Arbor, and it made him cry. That made me feel so grateful. 

That is so awesome. Making an impact on others seems important to you. What other tenets or values of your life are important to you?

Honesty. That is my biggest value, I think. I'm always honest, or I try to be. Justice is also so important to me, which is a complex value. Recognizing all the differences we bring in our experiences and how we can utilize them to everyone’s advantage. That’s something I strive to center in my life. 

How do you stay connected to those around you?

Anytime I am thinking of someone in a positive way, I try to tell them. Either mentioning it the next time I see them, or just right in that moment, sending them a message. I think compliments can mean so much more than we realize. 

I want to know your relationship with the idea of being an adult.

That's so interesting. I think that's something that I'm exploring this year, and this year in particular. Once I graduate, that's gonna really frame how I continue to think about being an adult. Right now it feels like a very vague concept. While we've been in college, we're still protected from the “real world” in a lot of ways. And I know that that will be ripped out from under us in a couple months. So, I'm still unsure how I think of being an adult.

Has college been a training course for adulting, or have you been extending how long you can feel like a kid as much as you possibly can?

I think it's a little bit of both. I think that there are skills that I've learned here, but I also think that I could learn those outside of college.

Do you have a question in your life that you feel you're still waiting on an answer for?

Yes, I think I just want someone to hit me upside the head and say, this is what you're supposed to be doing. I think about it all the time. Every time I think I get close to finding my purpose, I will find something scary or that I don't like about that path. So, I'm truly trying to pose that question to myself, and I think I'm getting closer. 

Do you think that potentially there is just going to be some aspect of what you're meant to do that you don't like?

Yes. 100%.

How do you deal with that, if it's what you're meant to do? 

I think a lot of times the problem can feel very visceral and all-consuming. And sometimes you just need to step back, recognize the things you’re grateful for when you are deciding to make a sacrifice. And I think I have a hard time doing that.

And what do you do to work on that?

Slowing down my thought processes, writing down what I feel, and often getting a new perspective from someone else. There is one friend I will always call, and he frames things in a way for me that is just really helpful. Finding those people in life is so important.