I’m currently sitting in my apartment with my three amazing roommates and thinking to myself: how did I get here? Like seriously, what happened in these past few years to get to this very moment? Long story short, a lot.Â
Well, first of all, I graduated high school, which was incredibly scary, but was the start of what would be the best years of my life. I was absolutely terrified to leave behind the life that I had gotten so used to. It wasn’t that I was happy with who I was, but I was comfortable. Â
That same summer, I started at the job that would help me grow into the person I am today. I didn’t get a real job until I graduated from high school. Before then, I made money babysitting and doing chores, but getting my first real job taught me so much about life. I learned that I was able to do things that I never thought I could.Â
My summer job was super chill, but it involved doing a lot of manual labor and tasks that I had never done before. Waking up every day at five in the morning and working in the hot sun really proved to me that I was able to do things outside of my comfort zone. Â
If I thought working a new job was outside of my comfort zone, I had a rude awakening when I started college at the end of the summer. I truly did not think I could do it. Taking upper-level courses as a freshman, living with a roommate that I had never met before, and finding myself. It all sounded impossible, but I made it through because I had to.Â
Honestly, I’m still that same scared girl that I was when I was a freshman, except now I’m 20 and graduating in the spring. I’ve gone through a lot. Three broken bones, two friend groups, and one heartbreak later, I still feel the same. I have no idea where I’ll be next year at this time, but I know I’ll be doing just fine, because I don’t really have a choice.Â
I’ll wake up in the morning and go to work and class and keep pushing myself because that’s how life works. If you don’t take a leap of faith and try new things, you’ll stay in the same place. It’s okay to stay in your comfort zone, but I can almost guarantee you’ll have a better experience if you don’t. Â