Most people by now know that school is back in session. For Elementary, Middle and High School parents it is normally a joyous occasion when they no longer have to entertain their children for hours while simultaneously getting work done. For College parents, it seems to be the opposite. Tears are again entered into the picture at the prospect of not seeing their children again for a few more months. I know as my parents dropped me off at the airport it was hard for them and me to say goodbye.

I noticed a lot in this time of transitioning back to school, it is similar and different from the first day back in August. You feel this sense of urgency and anticipation of seeing your friends again, you feel this nervousness of all new classes and new professors, but you feel this confidence you didn't have at the beginning of the school year. This confidence of "I got this."

It seems very fitting that it's a brand new year and new semester, it is a time of goal setting and reflection. A time to look back and see what worked, what didn't and how you can improve on those things. It is a time to make new goals and make more progress on old ones. The possibilities are endless for the new year ahead.

I know that I cannot wait to see what this new year has for me. Even though it's the same school, same place and same friendly faces, its new opportunities, new motivations, new revelations. I love it when my friends tell me about the things they have been able to reflect on over break and the new year. It gives me hope, It allows me to see life from their eyes and their perspective. I love it when others tell me things that they are hoping doesn't happen this year or that they hope to change because It gives me motivation to continue because they want to too.

So I encourage you as we go back to school, work and seemingly boring everyday life, look for the new opportunities to make it amazing. Look at the possibilities in front of you and go for it. Act on your first instinct sometime. Talk to that person you have been so afraid to. Start a conversation with a stranger. Invite people over that you would love to have a better relationship with. Make this a year of new things among the old. And even though we are back, we are definitely different.