We all know elementary school days were the best days. Carefree, no worries at all, and recess was the one thing we looked forward to everyday. Middle school was weird. It’s the awkward stage of life where everyone is going through puberty and trying to figure themselves out. High school is when you start to feel older and "cool" but still, you’re just trying to figure everything out. Senior year is when you’re stressed. You feel really old and you have to start thinking about college, the next step in your life and it’s the time for something brand new after those four long years in high school. It’s a new beginning and for me, it was an important new beginning.

Now I’m here about to start my fourth year of college and it doesn’t feel like it, that’s for sure. Life is constantly changing and it’s constantly blowing my mind. I think it’s the age we’re all at, but it’s a fact that everything is about to be real, and we’re all grown up. It’s important to look at every ending with optimism and think of it as not just an end, but also a fresh start. People in your life start to leave... trying to hand in your homework by midnight on a Sunday becomes a 9-5 desk job every day of the week, and our youth is fading away.

But right now, I’m trying to think of this all as a great thing, and I'm trying to focus on one thing, and that's being happy in whatever I end up doing. When I was little all I wanted was to grow up and be big and have a real job and now I'm almost to that point. It’s a new, fresh beginning and that’s the way you have to look at it. Letting go of the past and starting fresh. It’s a scary thing, and as we grow, we want to be making the right decisions. We are worried about not being successful, worried about losing friends, or worried about not being happy. Instead of worrying, make a change and go on your own path, because that’s the point of a fresh start, for it to be a satisfying one. You control your own life, so make the next phase or chapter a good one. Easier said than done, but it’s more than possible and it’s okay if it’s not exactly how you planned.