Okay, I was with this guy, right? Well, not right, I suppose that sentence would be more truthful if it held a thousand wrongs in it. Nonetheless, I was with this guy, of the wrong sorts. He was made up of those week old brown sugar and cinnamon pop tarts with sticky, fuzzy frosting from being in your run down Toyota for far too long. If he was a beer he would be warm Natural Light that had been roofied and trickled down the throat of a belly button pierced, Instagram model, college dropout kind of girl at your buddies excuse of a party. He was the shade of green that is usually painted on jealousy, money, and guilt. You know that phase that every sixth grade boy goes through? He was that with legs. He was the plot to any Nicholas Sparks book based movie along with about 900 other boring things that are somehow well liked by society.

A year ago I was tied together with all of that wrapped up in a person. All of those descriptions truly put an image to what my life represented — fake, tasty, impure beauty. Something that a lot of people end up settling for. I was in good ol’ Nebraska, USA. I was away from my family for the first time and I was essentially doing what was expected of me.

I never missed a class during my first semester of college, I was thoroughly enjoying my studies, I had two jobs, a boyfriend and was on the cheer team. Life was supposed to be feeling great for me with all of the great blessings that I was receiving there, however I was extremely unsatisfied. Whenever I was asked why I was so unhappy with the life I was living, I always fell silent and filled with frustration with the lack of answer.

I now know that the reason that I was so unsatisfied was because I was doing the type of living that just involved going through the motions. I simply wasn’t thriving and feeling purposeful. Luckily, I caught myself in this rut, removed myself from this situation and am thriving where I am right now.

How many of you get up everyday stuck in a situation that isn’t really pushing you towards an environment in which you can thrive? I bet it is so many. I see it everyday. An incredible amount of people stay in these pop tart structured and Natural Light infested relationships because it is easy. You meet somebody, enjoy their company, but know that the relationship is not God’s best for you. However, you get caught up in the glory of intimacy and grow comfortable in the situation that it becomes impossible to get out of it. The same goes with life, we head a new direction everyday and pray that we turned the right way. Unfortunately when we realize that we probably shouldn’t have taken that crappy job where we hate everybody, we are caught in quite the predicament. It's happening everywhere, guys. People are settling everywhere like we are in Jamestown in the 1600s. To that I say: stop.

Just stop.

Remove yourself from the situation. It may not be toxic, but it is not what is the best for you; it is not setting you up to have a fulfilling and thriving experience on this Earth. It is not too late and you can indeed change the situation you are in. I hate when people say this, but— life is short— too short to waste your time in places you don’t want to be or with people who are the wrong people.

A year ago I was swimming in Natural Light and watching too many boring Nicholas Sparks movies, thinking “man this is the life?” Now, I hope my (difficult) transition can be a testament to the fact that, to a certain extent, we are the bosses of our destiny.

Today, I lie in a pile of Costco fruit snack wrappers at 3:00 a.m., hoping that my mom will wake me up in time for work, making mistakes everyday. However my heart is beating so purposefully and thriving everyday in a state that is abundant in mountains and a town that embodies my favorite pair of socks. I wake up everyday to people that are like homemade strawberry pop tarts, that are pretty enough to be pictured in magazines— people who I’d never thought I’d crave because well, I hate strawberry pop tarts. Come night time, I get to walk alongside people who are like the best batch of chocolate milk you’ve ever made that is sliding down your best friend’s throat at two in the morning while your mom is yelling at you guys to keep it down and go back to bed. Everything and everybody that surrounds me is a brilliant shade of blue— the kind of your favorite t-shirt that you always wear because it feels like a water slide on the moon, even though you can’t remember the last time it has been through the wash. Man, I haven’t thought or craved watching a Nicholas Sparks movie in forever and instead I get to twist my stomach with laughs at killer stand-up comedy. Today, I get to stand beside snow-capped mountains, feeling as tall as I have ever stood, thriving and striving everyday to become just like one—powerful, steadfast, strong, and full of life and adventure. I throw my hands in my air, smiling from ear to ear because I am no longer a sad story.

You can do the same and that should fill you with nothing but excitement.

Don’t settle. Yes, dump him or her. Yes, quit that job. Yes, move. Yes, you can change your circumstances. Together, we can all be active members in our own rescues.