Your college years are supposed to be the best times of your life. Time for growth, loving, learning, and becoming the person you are meant to be. However, what do you do when your world is turned upside down and your life feels like it is crashing down around you? You could let it break you down, or you could grow from it.

For the past three months, I have gone through the biggest changes of my life. Around every corner, there has been a new surprise; something there to startle me. I don’t mean that lightly- I have truly turned the entirety of my life upside down and gone through some of the most trying and troubling times I have ever experienced. I got to a point where I was so lost and so confused, doubting if I was ever going to be able to get back on track with MY plan, but then there came a moment of clarity. It took months, but out of nowhere I was so startled by this realization.

I realized how happy I was, more than I had ever been before. My plan simply did not matter anymore, because these struggles have led me to more joy than I thought humanly possible, and for that I could not be more thankful. I went from my lowest point, sobbing in a police station, to feeling on top of the world surrounded by the best friends and family I could have ever asked for. I have found the silver lining in every storm cloud that has engulfed me, and I am choosing to live in them. The best moments of my life thus far have been held within this short three months, and I would not change it for the world. The dramatic changes that once scared me half to death have turned out to be the smartest decisions I could make (whether I wanted to follow through or not).

Don’t get me wrong though- this is an active choice. My moment of clarity was preceded by so many instances in which I never thought I would survive through. I chose the silver linings; I chose to rise above the circumstances. And what I found by choosing so is more beautiful than anything I could have imagined. I am overjoyed to live this life, and astounded at how much beauty I have seen through the ashes of my past life.

Through every single struggle you face, there will always be a silver lining. By choosing to find love and beauty in those small possibilities of light, you open yourself up to a new world of possibilities. I feel so much love that it exudes out of me, and I am living life with an open heart now. Choose to live in the silver linings of life, choose to see the joy and the beauty that can come when you open your heart up to the possibilities of life. You will survive, and have already survived one hundred percent of the tribulations you have faced to this point- keep going and choose to find a new love for life in the silver linings.