Change is okay.
Change is something I struggle with. It’s something we all struggle with. This past weekend, I went on a retreat with Notre Dame Campus Ministry. In one activity, we were asked to map out the major events of our lives, and when we were at both our lowest and happiest points. I noticed a pattern in my life: I was at my lowest when a major change occurred in my life, and happiest after I had had the time to adapt to that change.
Obviously, as college students transitioning into adults, we are all facing a lot of changes. It can be really hard to not want to go back to the way things used to be. I’ll be honest, my freshman year of college was not the typical amazing one you seem to always hear about at SMC. I missed my old friends, my old routine, and the old comforts of home. I desperately wanted to transfer closer to my hometown and go back to the way my life was in high school and be back with what was familiar to me. But after a lot of long, hard phone conversations, my mom gave me a reality check: Things will never go back to exactly how they were. Change is part of life. In the end, I stuck with Saint Mary’s, adapted into a new routine, and discovered that even though my new friends are nothing like my friends back home, they’re just as amazing.
Now, after a full year and a half at SMC under my belt, I love this place more than anything, and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else, not even “home.”
In due time, the changes that shake up and seem to ruin our lives become the best part of our lives. We’re all facing changes. Sometimes, those upcoming changes are glaring us right in the face. For seniors, time at Saint Mary’s is coming to a close, and that’s probably terrifying. Juniors are facing internship decisions and looking to sign housing leases, and for the first time, it might feel like the real world is actually, well, real. As a sophomore, almost all my friends are studying abroad next semester, and I’m sure they are all both excited and nervous to be in a new country. I worry about how I’ll survive spring semester with them gone. I know at first they’ll all be homesick and jetlagged, and I’ll miss them a ton, but by May, we’ll all have adapted and learned to thrive in our new situations.
I learned a lot on my retreat experience, but the biggest thing was this: change is okay. Change is inevitable. Change shouldn’t be feared, but embraced. Change is what helps us grow into stronger, more confident women. At first, it sucks. Things are going great, and it’s hard to imagine being happy if my life was any different than it is now. But I know that if I just endure and push through the lows change brings, I’ll find amazing happiness, comfort, and love in my new life, because change is okay.