Mel’s Melodies

By Melissa Proulx

Warning, this column contains a whole lot of rambling to avoid responsibility.

There’s an epidemic on campus, but it’s not the flu like you might think.

It’s a virus that has laid dormant inside of me for the last four years after it reeked havoc on me in 2011. It’s the infamous ‘senioritis’ and it’s back with a vengeance.

Like mono or the zombie virus on “The Walking Dead,” once a person becomes infected with the virus, it stays in your body. The epidemic’s most common symptoms usually include a lack of motivation, an intense fear of the future and what it might hold, and minor indigestion.

I’m not exactly sure when my most recent case of senioritis first started to kick in, but I think it was roughly around the time that I applied for graduation. It was a two second process (really), but the effects are nothing like I would have expected. I was left feeling weak and fearful, but also in need of some sort of mindless distraction.

So naturally, I took to the Internet for escape and that’s where I have been for roughly the last 36 days.

Did you know the Franklin D. Rossevelt, the 32nd president of the United States, is my true match? Out of all of them, it’s him who is “totally committed to me,” according to the quiz I took on WeddingWire.com.

Did you know there is a video of a giant St. Bernard slipping on ice in slow motion and I’ve watched it 200 times? I can tell you the exact time of impact and have analyzed the emotional rollercoaster that the poor pup went on in such detail that I could probably write a book about it.

And let us not forget the many animal videos that accurately depict how I feel after five seconds of running or when I’m too lazy to get up and get a snack. I’ve never felt so understood before, but at the same time what have I become?

We are in the final stretch, but I feel like I’ve just been tightening up. All of the inspirational quotes that I’ve found on Pinterest or the “23 Amazing And Inspiring High School Yearbook Quotes” on Buzzfeed can only do some much.

From the investigation I’ve done by interviewing my friends, I realize that I’m not the only one who feels this way. Many of us worry about what the future holds and where we might end up.

I’m not an expert on how to deal with this by any means, but I’ve now been trying to find a way to alleviate this stress.

I’ve searched the Internet but we all know how untrustworthy WedMD can be. I’m either dehydrated or I’m minutes away from death, and I don’t get why this is always the answer.

I’ve watched tutorials on how to be productive and checked MapQuest for directions to my motivation, but none of them proved to be what I needed.

I can only hope that the answer will come to me somehow and that it, too, lays dormant inside me just waiting for the perfect conditions to flourish.

Melissa Proulx is a TNH staff writer. Follow her on Twitter @_mcproulx.