You always hear the word "change" portrayed in the most positive of lights. People are always gushing about how change is for the better, that it's always good to mix things up, to progress forward, to let go of old traditions, old habits, and embrace the new and the bold.

And I totally agree...but not all the time.

See, change is only effective, I feel, when you see that something is obviously wrong. Like, for example, if the soil you use to garden your plants with seems to be causing the plants to not flourish as well, or even die, well, then obviously something has to change! Your plants (or even your life, if we go for a more broader approach) just can't keep going on like this, you know?

Now, that's change for the better. That's a change we should strive for.

But this is not the case all the time, or even for all kinds of change.

As Rick Newman puts it, as restated by INEOS Holdings Ltd., "Change is not always a good thing. It may force us out of tired habits and impose better ones upon us, but it can also be stressful, costly and even destructive." This is certainly the case for many college students or kids who go off to college in general. For many a college student, a trek to another state to study in a new place may seem like a fresh new beginning, but in the end may end up completely devastating their whole emotional and mental states. They're by themselves in a whole new place that they don't know that well, after all; it's only natural that some students succumb to the pressure, isolation, and loneliness that this newfound "freedom" allows them, and as a result, it takes a toll on their grades.

The same goes for jobs: getting a promotion, or taking a better-paying, higher-level job at a new place may seem fantastic at first, but in the end may end up to be a completely stressful experience due to all the new roles and people you have to refer to. Sometimes, change can be a change for the worse.

But that doesn't mean you still shouldn't try.

Sometimes the change doesn't immediately reveal its effect in your life; sometimes you just have to take risks. Yes, it's scary. Yes, it may have potentially catastrophic consequences. But without change, you can’t get anywhere!

Yes, it’s scary. Yes, it may have potentially catastrophic consequences.

But you’ve got to make that leap. You have to aim for success. I know I did. And boy, did it pay off. I left my comfortable home in sunny Florida to study at a university with the #1 creative writing department in the country, and it is treating me extremely well.

Who knows, maybe you’re that college student who’s moving away, or that person who got that exhilaratingly terrifying new promotion. Maybe it seems like you’re in over your head. Maybe you’re considering giving up.

Well, keep at it. Maybe you'll make the friends of a lifetime in school. Maybe you'll move up to CEO

Give it your very best. Because believe me, you’ll get nothing but the best out of it.