I’m a freshman in college and the one question I keep getting asked is, “Are you okay?” My answer to this quintessential is always the same, no matter what I’m feeling: I simply put on a smile and respond with, “Yes, I’m okay.” But this is one of the biggest lies I constantly tell.

I’m really not okay, but truthfully, I’m too afraid to admit it. I tell the same lie to appease the asker and I’m at the age where it’s not healthy for me to be saying this anymore.

In reality, I have a lot on my mind. I’m a new college student and I’m stressed beyond belief because college is nothing like what I’m used to (duh, Grace). I’m 800 miles and 13 hours away from home and I miss my family like crazy. I’m in a new place and I have to make new friends because none of my friends from home are here with me on this new journey. My mind is constantly running a thousand miles an hour and it’s getting to be too much for me.

But, despite all that has happened in my first month in college, my first month living without my family, and my first week as a 19 year old, I actually am okay. I’m okay because I know that God has a plan for me and my life. I’m going through the motions when in reality, I should be living each day like it’s my last. Life is a rollercoaster, complete with its own unique ups and downs, but that’s beauty of it. Life is crazy and while I usually don’t feel okay, I know I actually am because God has a way of making everything work out the way He wants it to and that is enough consolation for me.