I've never had a problem with who I was. I went to school, did my work and went home. That was how my life was and, honestly, there was no problem with it. At least I didn't think there was.

In high school, I lived in a shell. At the time I thought I was just really shy. I thought that I would eventually get over the fear of showing everyone who I was. But you know how high school goes: once you're in your designated box, you're typically stuck there until graduation. I had amazing friends and focused a lot of my attention on my education. I was involved in the music program at my high school, but something still felt off. I had fun, stayed focused and looked forward to graduation.

Here's the thing about college: where you go matters. My whole life, all that I thought was important was getting a degree. I didn't think about how important the process of getting there was. I thought that college would be four years of the same me. I thought I would continue to be shy and make some friends, but that they could never compare to the friends I had from home. I didn't think that I could ever be the person that was excited to go out into large groups of people and mingle. I was prepared to be the same person from high school after graduation. I was wrong.

When you find your place, you find yourself. It sounds silly, but it couldn't be more true. When you find your place, you find that the little walls you built around yourself for protection start to chip away. Suddenly, you aren't the shy girl waiting to break her silence. You're the girl who makes the conscious decision to evolve. You start talking to people that you never would have in the past. You start putting yourself in new situations, where the old you would have been too afraid to try. You start to notice the quirky things about yourself, and you learn to love them. You don't hold back who you are for anyone else. You learn that the people who are meant to be in your life are the people who accept you, who value you, who respect you and who make the choice to be in your life. You find what you enjoy doing and learn to dedicate your time to what you choose. You learn that this life you are living is yours and nobody else's. Soon enough, you find your purpose. You'll live for yourself first, but try to spend as much of the time you have helping others on their journey.

Ultimately, you can live anybody's life if you want to. But if you want to live yours:

You find yourself by choosing to.