College: Fordham University

Major: Journalism/marketing

Throughout the chaos of the past year, there is one thing that has never failed to bring me joy. I truly believe  nothing is quite as exhilarating as racing home from school, dropping my backpack and heading straight for the front doorstep with scissors in hand, because I’ve been refreshing my USPS tracking all day – finally, I get the unmatched rush of opening a package. 

It may be hard to believe, but I never really online shopped before the pandemic. As my mother and those who have been dragged into my secret haul story on Snapchat can attest, my love for ordering new clothes escalated quickly. I have been told this obsession can come off as shallow or materialistic, but I consider it self-expression instead. 

I’m a firm believer in the power of fashion, specifically as a way of being creative. Something I wish I could go back and tell my younger self is that nobody is paying as much attention to you as you think they are, so do whatever you want! For me that realization came when quarantine hit, so I sold my entire wardrobe on Instagram to replace it with clothes from my newfound shopping addiction. Personally, I am still working on figuring out who I am and how I want to present myself (like many high schoolers), and clothes are just a part of that. 

Basically, something I’ve realized is of the utmost importance to me is individuality. I’ve spent a lot of time lately thinking about how, as cliché as it sounds, the happiest anyone will ever be is when we’re not worrying about what other people think. Spend your time expressing yourself however you want. If you’re like me and what makes you happy is online shopping to reinvent yourself every two weeks, then do it. Be your own person, let go of expectations or stereotypes or judgments, and you will thrive.