This week just so happens to mark my 20th birthday. With the mini-milestone coming up, I've started to do a lot of reflecting on the past year of my life. Where my life stands now is pretty average for someone my age. I'll be starting my sophomore year of college in about a month. I work full time. Soon I'll be looking at the steps I need to take as I continue furthering my education to eventually build a life for myself.

Nothing is completely figured out yet. I still live at home with my parents, and I still need to find a second job. There are still things for me to work out in many different aspects of my life, but I've come to realize this doesn't mean everything's falling apart. Even with all the bumps in the road, I'm still actively moving forward.

My number one goal this past year was to take care of my mental health; to make sure my happiness was a priority. In the process, I ended up failing at a lot of things, but I got back up every time I was knocked down. Every time I made a mistake, I learned from it. That's how life works; you fall down over and over again.

Throughout the whole process, the most important thing for me to remember was that I am capable of bouncing back; capable of growing. While I learned to remember this a few years ago, and completely drilled it into my brain at the time, it still managed to slip my mind as life continued on.

I needed to stop underestimating myself and realize it's okay if you need to get lost in order to start finding yourself. There's usually a reason you needed to change the course you were on; it's time to head down a clearer road.