I’ve been putting off writing this article, which should have been completed a month ago, because of the sheer energy it took to finish an Honours Undergraduate Degree in Behavioural Science over the past four years. From the start of the 2025 winter academic term, I posted a series of weekly poems chronicling the emotional terrain of my final semester. My last day was April 16, 2025, when I presented my thesis: a 50-page paper (71 pages including appendices and references), which had taken nearly two years to complete. I don’t think the phrase “emotional rollercoaster” quite captures the trepidation I experienced throughout this process. This path can reduce you to a rambling, psychotic version of yourself, desperately scouring for the last functioning brain cell under the relentless pressure of academia. The last four years were riddled with simultaneous horror and joy. We think we know who we are, but discovering the bits and pieces that solidify our cognition offers priceless lessons.

I kept wondering: when humans say, “unlock your mind,” are they referring to an experience with psychedelics, synthetic or organic, or to pure illumination? Mine feels like an open crevice filled equally with light and dark. Darkness needs light just as much as light needs the dark. Without balance, purpose becomes obsolete, distilled to irrelevance. This is a tragic reality for those who feel there’s more to life but don’t know how, or where, to expose themselves to that something more. With photographic exposure, I can capture anything, moments of dismay or bliss. But reaching our goals alone is difficult. One must learn how to fall. It’s revealed naturally in the undoing of oneself. Somewhere along the way, there are bloody, chipped fingernails from clawing our way toward verity. At times, it feels like we want to scratch our eyes out, just to see clearly how enlightenment unfolds its plan for a life no one ever anticipated, yet holds insane potential.

I’m sitting in my living room with my laptop, writing this article while my husband and daughter watch Casino, and all I can think about is Baz Luhrmann’s Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen), adapted from Mary Schmich’s 1997 essay. Click here to listen while reading the rest of this article. The essence of that advice is about how individuality and identity are formed through the strengths and lessons we gain in life. Identity has been a concept I’ve been madly in love with since my first year of HBBS. It’s incredible how we evolve, not just based on our self-perception but also through how we imagine others see us. Yet, in truth, none of that really matters. Each person on this Earth has a unique purpose: to make a difference in a way that is authentic to who they are.
I can’t imagine a world where identity isn’t explored. There are textures to identity, some pliable, some so rigid they refuse to bend. Just like the people we encounter. It might sound odd, but even those who have hurt us beyond belief play a role in fortifying our core. The pain we endure teaches profound lessons that shape our identity. These lessons are emotionally expensive; they make us question who we are and what we want. Some people seem to enjoy toying with others, even when only love is offered in return. This type of betrayal is a slash to the jugular of one’s identity. But it also serves as a frightening reminder, a brick-wall slap in the face that ultimately protects and cements our souls. 
As someone once told me, opinions are like belly buttons, everyone has one; and that is all it is, a thought about something by one individual. It is inconsequential in the realm of success!!! 
CONGRATULATIONS CLASS OF 2025!!!!