I would like to think that change is hard for everyone and that it doesn’t come easy. One part of me that I never liked is the fact that I dislike change and have a lot of trouble embracing it. Honestly, change gives me a lot of anxiety and it’s something I don’t really like to deal with. When I do have to deal with change it’s always a big ordeal and I just really wish it wasn’t. Now I know that change isn’t hard for everyone and a lot of people embrace change in their lives and are happy when it comes. I have always wished I was like that, being okay with any change that comes about in my life, but ever since I can remember I have hated change, any change, big or small. I have had and still do have a lot of problems with it but over time I have learned to try and embrace it as best I can.

In our lives we go through a lot of change as people, but the biggest change for me was the transition from high school to college. It’s a huge change in your life, especially if you’re going away, but even if you’re not, it’s all the same. I was so afraid to leave high school, grow apart from my friends, not be a part of my choir or my drama club anymore and just to leave the comfort of home. The thought of leaving the school district I had been in for thirteen years and going to a school where I knew no one terrified me. Everything I had once known was changing and I absolutely hated that. The summer before moving into college I had a lot of anxiety and worries stemming from the change I was about to endure, but there was one thing that helped me through it over the course of the year. People are the key, you find people to help you through, new and old friends, family, they stick by you while you’re going through any tremendous change in life.

If I learned anything about change over the course of my Freshman year in college, it’s that change helps you to grow. It can really help fight your insecurities and fears. Putting myself out there and embracing new things in college was the best thing I could have done for my fear of change and for myself. I was so afraid of leaving the comfort of my high school and all the things that I already knew, that I almost didn’t leave room for new things to come my way. I was so stuck on leaving the comforts of home, that I didn’t want to think about letting anything in. I couldn’t have embraced this change without my friends I had before college or without my new friends, also without my family being there I’m not sure what I would have done either. People are a huge part in supporting you through the changes in your life. I am so happy that I decided to embrace this specific change fully.

I’m not saying change isn’t still a fear in my life and honestly, I’m not really sure if the fear is ever going to go away, but it has made me grow and become a person I didn’t even know I could be. I decided to go out on a limb, out of my comfort zone during orientation in college and it brought me the friends I have now, activities I love being a part of, and a college I’m not scared to go back to for Sophomore year like I was so scared to go to Freshman year. Without embracing the change, I wouldn’t have all the things I do now, the things I am so grateful for. I hope that with the inevitable change I have coming for me in the future I can embrace it just like I did with my transition to college. Dan Millman once said in the book Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Book that Changes Lives, “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new." I have never heard anything more true.