I will not lie, I did not come up with the prompt myself.
I told my advisor and confidant that I had accepted a spot at a law school in Charleston.
He asked me for one last favor.
He asked me to write down what I think is important to consider when starting a new journey.
Here it goes.
Reassurance
I think the scariest part for me is all of the what-ifs.
What if this is the worst decision I will ever make?
What if I can’t come back from this?
What if this does not make me happy?
I think I like to catastrophize things.
I think it makes me feel safe or like I am covering all of my bases when in reality I am just making things a million times harder on myself.
I do this when I know that there is not ever just simply happiness or assurance.
I know that I can always choose to dream a different dream, and with that in mind, I can always come back.
Though, I find myself facing the epitome of these targeted questions: “What is the right decision?”
I always know that there is never a right decision.
I am not even a believer in the right decisions.
Any new journey requires the reassurance that amongst all the what-ifs, there are some amazing outcomes.
Among the outcomes are moments that can turn into a terrifying what if but are just another moment to realize that there never is a right decision.
Trust
This is similar to reassurance but also oh so different.
Trust, to me, has always felt more ironclad than reassurance.
Possibly because it is the harder one to obtain, in my opinion, but who knows?
This element is about the trust that you have with yourself.
There has never been a point where you let yourself fall through the cracks, be late, not get something done on time, starve, be homeless, or not have a little fun in between.
It is always so difficult for me to grasp that I have always had my own back.
This gets amplified in times of venturing out because there is so much unknown.
It is so important to do yourself a favor and at least nail down that you always have your own back when you feel like the world might not.
Optimism
As a pessimist, this is really hard for me.
I can be as negative as they come.
Especially when it comes to catastrophizing everything.
That combo is deadly.
There is something to smacking a smile on your face, though it may be against your will, and toughing it out with the best attitude you can muster.
It is a chain reaction also.
If you want to set yourself up to have a great experience, go into it positively.
If not, you might always remember it as something negative and can never be shifted from that mode of thinking.
It is as simple as that, which does not make it any less difficult.
All that has happened before
I am such a believer in trusting that damn process.
What will come to you will be and if it leaves, let it.
I think life has a funny way of lining up all of these moments that lead to one another in some form that really helps us to become who we are supposed to be.
As just a fun little note of this, I have a close friend who, years ago, told me that when she had an appointment with a physic, they had told her someone in her life would be moving to South Carolina for school.
She did not tell me about it until after I applied.
After I applied to only one southern school, that being in South Carolina.
With that, I will say that I am a lucky girl to have so many pivotal, though I might not have known it, moments.
And I say the term “lucky girl” lightly because it implies that I did not work my ass off to get where I am.
That is just simply not true.
It is a combination of hard work, grit, commitment, and a lot of reflection on all that has happened before me that really sets it all in.
Take in all that you have done and all of the moments that have led you to where you are now.
…
I think this might have been one of my favorite things to write about yet.
Life is full of new journeys, big and small, as cringe-worthy as that may sound.
But you know it’s true.
And these are just my thoughts.
I prompt you to find out what you think you need for a new journey too.