Design By: Athena Gonzalez

Life is hard and sometimes you need emotional support. As college students, we’re usually on campus for the majority of the week. It’s hard balancing our school life and everyday life. Sometimes we just need emotional support. You could honestly use whatever you want, but a lot of students have an emotional support water bottle. They treat them like a binky or pacifier that they have to take everywhere and can’t live without, and usually there is a story behind where the bottle came. 

“So, it started out as a water bottle that I won in a contest. I got the bottle for free, and I just kept taking it around campus. And then as time has gone on, I’ve gotten different stickers and things at different events on campus that I’ve put them on my water bottle,” said Eric Freel who is studying general sciences. 

“It’s kind of almost like a journal or a diary of all the different things I’ve been involved with on campus and all the different organizations that I’ve joined and represented during my time here,” said Freel.  

And sometimes all you want is just a certain brand of bottle. 

“I got my emotional support bottle back in 2023, for Christmas. But this was an early Christmas gift, because I told my mom, I’m begging her, ‘Can I please get an Owala?’ ‘An Owala?’ ‘Can I please, please, please?’ She’s like, ‘okay,’” said Olivia Rau, who is studying early childhood education.  

 “I had this water bottle for about a few days, and then, sadly, I got sick because I did not wash the water bottle after I got it,” Rau said. “It has been with me since then,”  

 Once you get an emotional support bottle you have to take it everywhere to survive life. 

 “It helped me through high school. It helps me through driving. It helps me through sleeping, and when my nightmares are there. It helps me when I am stressing out [because] of school, life, homework, work, getting jobs, and not having a job, [and] having a job. So basically everything,” said Rau. 

 It’s not just about where the bottle goes. Sometimes the story behind it is more important. 

 “My sister gave it to me, so it has a lot of significance. And I take it everywhere with me. When I go to school, when I go to work, when I’m in the car, my water bottle is always there, in my hands, and I just like to have something to drink,” said Kaite Basurto who is studying Liberal Arts. 

 When picking out the perfect bottle, sometimes the type of bottle matters like how you open it and how it feels when you’re drinking from it. 

 “It’s just familiar. I know how to open it and close it without looking,” said Freel. 

 People might think color matters a lot when picking a bottle, but sometimes it just doesn’t. 

 “I’m simple. I like dark colors, simple colors. I don’t like anything too bright. So gray and black was perfect,” said Antonio Lopez-Cisneros, who is studying Civil Engineering. 

 In some cases the bottle has been with it’s owner for so long that they take it everywhere and forget when they got it. 

 “Years ago, and I still use it to this day,” said Lopez-Cisneros.