{"id":97025,"date":"2026-01-26T11:59:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T11:59:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/97025\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T11:59:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T11:59:06","slug":"column-theres-beauty-in-everything-even-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/97025\/","title":{"rendered":"Column | There\u2019s beauty in everything, even now"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s no secret that things are difficult right now. With all the noise about politics, climate change, wars and the everyday struggles Americans have to deal with, it\u2019s not surprising that people are more overwhelmed and stressed than they have been in years. In educational spaces like Pitt, there\u2019s been never-ending uncertainty regarding funding<\/a>, tuition<\/a> and employment<\/a>. The news seems to only highlight the most shocking and controversial stories to get the most attention. On top of that, each one of us has individual struggles to deal with. Personally, it has been difficult for me to separate the stress of my own life with the stress of the 24-hour news cycle. I also know I\u2019m not alone in feeling that way.<\/p>\n

In high school, my thoughts used to spiral so easily \u2014 I never gave myself a chance to take a break, and it wasn\u2019t until I started going to therapy that I learned healthy ways to cope with this anxiety. Over the pandemic I had developed an obsessive need to stay in the loop of everything going on in the world. Even though I could tell you every single headline that popped up on my feed that day, I was the unhappiest I had ever been. This, however, is how social media is designed \u2014 it purposely sucks in our attention and keeps us engaged by any means necessary. This means inflammatory and reactionary content gets pushed out to as many people as possible because that\u2019s what will make users pay attention. Regardless of whether the information is true or not, this content is pushed as fact. As a result, vulnerable engagers get upset and angry at the world they live in. Yes, there\u2019s more than plenty to be mad at, but this kind of constant fury isn\u2019t healthy.<\/p>\n

With all the overwhelming events happening, the most productive thing any of us can do is make the best of what we have. The best way I\u2019ve been able to do this is by forcing myself to appreciate everything I see and look for the beauty each object holds. Beauty is obvious for things like sunsets, flowers, animals, our loved ones \u2014 but it becomes less obvious the more stressors we\u2019re under.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last year, I had much more trouble appreciating the beauty around me. As a first-year in college, I was constantly stressed about starting a new chapter of life, and I didn\u2019t want to mess anything up. The stakes for everything were so heightened, and all that worrying honestly made my life worse. I was put in Sutherland without knowing anything about it prior, and the thought of being on Cardiac Hill \u2014 such an inconvenient walk to and from main campus \u2014 felt isolating. I did all I could to spend time on lower campus so I could make friends and take part in university events, but the need to walk up and down every day was a lot.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This year, I live at Centre Plaza, which is even further from campus, but Pittsburgh Regional Transit buses regularly commute to and from Oakland, and the walk has almost no incline. I have secure friendships and take part in clubs that I\u2019m passionate about, and I have the space to finally appreciate all my surroundings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shadyside is beautiful, but not just because of all the new buildings and chain stores. I\u2019m talking about the railroad tracks right outside my window where trains screech by at excruciating volumes every day. I\u2019m talking about the shuttle sign at the Centre and Morewood bus stop that\u2019s loose enough in the ground to swing around and hang off of. I\u2019m talking about the brown, midcentury buildings throughout the neighborhood that, yes \u2014 are old and could use a power wash \u2014 but have made me appreciate brutalist architecture in a way I didn\u2019t think was possible. Maybe this is all a delusional distraction from the madness of the world around us, but I don\u2019t care. These days, there needs to be some joy in our lives, and I find it in the mundane things around me.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a Pitt student and you don\u2019t utilize the PRT buses, I want you to take the 75 to Ellsworth from Oakland \u2014 get off at Amberson and Ellsworth right in front of the Winchester Thurston School and walk down Amberson to the back lot of Centre Plaza. Walk up the road to the staircase, walk down the downward staircase and into the main Centre Plaza lot, and let yourself look around. It\u2019s also important that you do this at night. The first time I did this walk I was with a group of friends after a long night, and I was absolutely taken aback by the mundane beauty of this short trail. Maybe the news has taken away your hope in the world, maybe your classes have you overwhelmed, or maybe you just can\u2019t seem to fit in quite yet at Pitt. No matter what you\u2019re going through, I can guarantee this walk will reset your brain.<\/p>\n

Since the first time I took that walk, seeing the soft lights glowing from apartment windows and streetlamps, I\u2019ve found myself appreciating every little thing around me. It doesn\u2019t matter if it\u2019s the windy snow that falls weekly, the blue lights on the PRT when it gets dark out, or the cargo trains that squeal by my window \u2014 we\u2019re meant to look up every once in a while and appreciate the world around us. If we don\u2019t, we\u2019ll get stuck in our heads and caught up in the chaos of modern life. It obviously isn\u2019t healthy to live in denial and ignore all current events, but it also isn\u2019t healthy to spend every minute obsessing over it.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re losing the ability to pause and allow a moment to ourselves. Taking in the beauty of someone you know, of the bus stop you frequent, of the color of slowly dying grass by the sidewalk can not only change your day but even your whole week. Taking a minute to talk with friends you haven\u2019t seen since before break and listening to the sound of their voices can heal even a bit of that worry.<\/p>\n

When I\u2019m having a really bad week, I like to walk around Phipps Conservatory \u2014 I don\u2019t allow myself to go on my phone or even have headphones on. Even some of the wilting plants have beauty in the unique changes in their color and their sprawling roots. Don\u2019t discredit the beauty in our everyday surroundings, or you might get endlessly lost in a spiraling 24-hour cycle.<\/p>\n

Isabel Hoch is a sophomore English Writing major who obsesses over very specific things for months at a time. If she writes an article about something, it means her friends haven\u2019t heard her shut up about it in weeks. To get in a heated debate over something dumb (or tell her a fun secret), you can email her at [email\u00a0protected]<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s no secret that things are difficult right now. With all the noise about politics, climate change, wars…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":97026,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[7014,47627,73,75,74],"class_list":["post-97025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-beauty","tag-gratitude","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97025\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}