“We are so afraid to change careers, to end relationships, to outgrow people or places—and that’s just growth. To me, choosing to go toward the cracking in order to keep expanding is the only way. The only way to get out of pain is to go through it. Pain is information." - Sophia Bush

This life is full of change. Everybody changes. You learn as you go through the growing pains, and you experience an endless amount of new things while doing so. Change often happens over the years. Sometimes those changes are so little, or happen slowly over time, that we hardly even recognize it happening.

I’ve encountered a lot of change in my 20 years of a lifetime, but this past year, I’ve changed the most. I've changed so much that sometimes I have to take a step back and try and recognize who I even am. I’ve been a mixture of very happy, and very sad. And I am still trying to figure it all out. This past year has tested my limits and made me question morals. I went past my comfort zone, and I cried more, and I laughed more. I found that I spent most days confused and shocked at some of the events that were changing around me. I had to hold back my feelings, and let it transform.

I got my heart broke. I realized you couldn't change a person no matter how much you wish you could, and it just doesn't work like that. I let someone in again before I was fully moved on. I tried to test my heart before it was well-rested. And I don't regret a thing.

I lost some friends, and with that, I gained new ones. I found out who will be beside me through the bad, and not just the good. I learned not to explain things to people, and that if I do, it misleads them into thinking they're entitled to know everything I do.

Through the changes, I've learned a lot. I made mistakes, but I regret none. I don't let that define me, and I can't. I realized that I need to be easier on myself, and not stress the small stuff.

At the time, it seemed like none of these changes were in my favor, but that was before I saw the good in it. Change is good, and this life is all about change. Think of it this way; even the holiest person, the pope, is replaced. The President, we get a new one every four years. Life is about change, and everyone can be replaced.

So, embrace the now, and take everything in. For you don't know when it all will change. When it all will become new.