Your freshman year of high school is a wild year. You make new friends, lose some, play new sports, join new clubs, ect. I got lucky because I had an older best friend that had it all figured out for me and showed me the loops but there was one thing I never expected to hear and that anyone could really prepare me for. My parents had decided that we were going to move across the country. At this time I lived in Las Vegas, Nevada and my parents, my sister, and I were packing our lives up and moving to North Carolina. At the time I was upset and thought my world was crashing down but now, I can’t ever thank my parents enough for moving me. This move changed my life for the better and has taught me truly a lot about life.
1. People come and go.
Personally, I feel that this continuously happens throughout your life but at the time it was a real shock and was my first experience with this. Through your life you always gain and lose friends. Whenever I was in the process of moving I realized how many friends I had saying they would miss me, wanted to come visit, and so on but when I was finally in North Carolina I noticed that the calls and texts from some of my best friends slowly stopped happening. I was already sad because quite honestly, I hadn’t made any friends in N.C. yet and now I couldn’t even escape in my phone to talk to my friends from home. I don’t necessarily believe that these people forgot about me or didn’t care but we were growing up. We had our own busy lives and I never noticed until I wasn’t around those people all the time at school.
I don’t hold this against these people for not keeping in contact since I moved here because the experience taught me something. The people that wanted to continue a friendship reached out to me NOT daily but once in awhile and it made a difference. It taught me that people who want to be in your life WILL make an effort. Then, this really did bug me because I couldn’t see what the future held for me. Now, I have plenty of friends, still have an amazing family, and I have my awesome team who is basically my second family. I honestly couldn’t be happier and I thank those people for helping me grow up.
2. Change is good.
When I was moving to North Carolina I was terrified of a new school, making friends, a new house, finding a new travel softball team. It all just seemed unbearable. I don’t think people dislike things being different but I think they are scared of the process of things being changed. We are so consumed with the question of “What if?” I know I am at fault of this completely. The truth is, you DON’T know what’s going to happen but as far as I’m concerned things don’t ever go according to plan anyways. Things happen for a reason and that’s the beauty of this crazy thing we call life. Change gives excitement and that feel for adventure. Coming to North Carolina gave me that. I learned that I love the trees and sunsets are amazing. Nevada didn’t give me that. I love the South because southern hospitality is probably the best thing when you’re having a bad day. This move helped me learn to accept change and try new things, take on new challenges. Change is good because it keeps you on your toes and keeps life fresh. I think that right now, for me, this is the best time for change and to be adventurous. I’m discovering myself and learning new things everyday. Someone who doesn’t like change is someone who is scared and content.
3. Make the most of every situation.
Obviously if someone told you that you had to pick up your whole life and move, you would feel like your world was ending, especially at 15. So for while, I moped, pouted, even cried but it didn’t make it any better. It was weird, it was like one day I looked at myself in the mirror and told myself that I was going to make the best of it. I felt like it was as crappy as it was going to get so I should just suck it up and have fun. Things weren’t going back to the way they were so I had to make the most of it. I started making friends, found a travel team, and softball tryouts were right around the corner. My junior and senior year I decided to try even more things. I helped manage the football team and tried out for the cheer and made it. High school was fun for me, I had a lot of friends and made many memories. Sometimes I think about what would’ve happened if I just stayed miserable and didn’t try to make the most of it but I’m glad I gave myself a smack in the face. I was more open to things and I finally stopped reminiscing on what my life used to be and focused on my new chapter in life.
Now I attend UNC Pembroke and play softball while studying mass communications. I love everything about my life and it is because I stopped focusing on what was and put my energy into something more important, my future.
Yes, moving across the country was scary, weird, and unknown but I’ve learned so much along the way, met a lot people and now I feel that I have so many more opportunities and it makes me excited about what my future has in store for me.
