Too many times we give ourselves one, often light-hearted, chance to accomplish something and then use that experience to determine if it's truly "for us" or not. Throughout our lives, we use these experiences and determinations to create a "bubble" of comfort in which we go about our lives avoiding our fears, avoiding what we believe to be "bad" at, and living as comfortably as possible. These occurrences happen in every aspect of our lives such as in school, work, friendships, and relationships--both with ourselves and with others.

I recently thought about this when I signed up to complete a St. John's core science class. I was offered a variety of choices, but the one that was currently available and seemed the most interesting was the atomic theory scientific inquiry class. I remembered studying the structure of an atom in high school and finding it pretty interesting.

However, it didn't occur to me (for whatever reason) when I signed up for the class that it was a chemistry course. A little backstory of my history with chemistry? I passed the state exam by one point my junior year of high-school.

Growing up, my dad always taught my brother, sister and I to not be afraid of challenges. He embodied that mindset before he became a father as well, telling us stories such as how he chose his major in college by requesting the hardest major given and then deciding to take it. Turns out, that major was accounting and he fell in love with it, and he built his own firm which is still running successfully.

It's lessons like these that have helped motivate me in my life to not be afraid of a challenge. I used to be afraid of being too busy because I thought that I would never be able to handle it all, or maybe I just simply didn't want to handle it all. Now, I am the busiest I've ever been.

I am part of multiple clubs and organizations/programs, constantly joining new ones in an effort to support the multiple degrees I am studying for, working (as well as looking for a second part-time job) and still finding time to maintain a high GPA and thriving social life. I'm so used to being busy that I've learned to be organized to the point where I don't even feel busy. Instead of letting my fears stop me, I took on every challenge that I knew would only benefit me, head-on.

Back to my chemistry class I recently signed up for, I realized that I had two options. Try to get through it as best as I could, or take the opportunity to truly learn chemistry and use the knowledge I gained from my first attempt four and a half years ago, to finally understand what I struggled with. I was always used to saying how terrible I was at chemistry--now is my opportunity to change that.

Challenging yourself means putting yourself in a position that often causes you anxiety and fear, and doing everything you can to accomplish it anyway. There, of course, will be hard times, but they will mean nothing compared to the accomplished feeling you have when you realize your improvement in your area of focus as well as your complete self in comparison to when you started.

Challenging yourself should make you feel stronger, smarter, and happier. Stick to your morals and challenge your fears. The world will be yours.