Lately, I have been thinking a lot about change. I think that, when asked, a lot of people would say that they hate change; I wouldn't say that I hate change, necessarily, but change can be difficult, and those are the times when I will say that I hate it and that I wished nothing every had to change. But then I think, "If nothing ever changed, life would be incredibly dull." The fact of the matter is, things do have to change; the world was not designed to stay the same forever. People have to change, too; whenever someone tells me "you've changed," I say "Thank God!" because, quite honestly, I like myself so much better now than I did even a year ago.
College has changed me immensely; I am not the person I was when I walked onto campus two years ago. Two years ago, I was coming out of high school feeling lost, lonely, and as if the world had something against me. Now, I have a greater sense of belonging, and though I do still feel lost and lonely at times, I know that I will always be found again and that I have a lot of people in my life who care about me and will never allow me to stay lonely for long. I know now that the world does not have anything against me, and that the only person who truly has anything against me is myself. When I first came to Birmingham-Southern in the fall of 2014, I never imagined that I would become the person I am right now. I imagined that I would always be the same old Kelsey, just with a business degree, a few more facts stuffed into my head, and a few new friends on Facebook. What no one could have told me is that I would change my major to art, learn more life lessons than facts about revolutions and writing papers and drawing pictures, and that I would meet people who would change my entire life.
Nothing and no one stays the same. Every year, as an old group of students leaves BSC to make their mark on the world, we get a new group of students who come in and make their mark on BSC. Every year, I see the friends I came in with growing and changing along with me as they prepare themselves for a world outside of our beautiful little college campus. Every year, I note how I have changed, and how I want to continue to change, because I know that change is the only constant in life, and that, in another two years, I will be a completely different person than I am today.
To close with a quote from one of my favorite celebrities,
" You'll be different. You'll be different from the self that you were. You're constantly growing." -- Helena Bonham Carter
