Sara Vargas.

I print my name before I try to sort out everything else that makes up who I am.

This is the season. Trees are shedding their clothes, squirrels are packaging their nuts, and high school juniors, just like me, are scrambling trying to figure out exactly who they are and want to be for forever.

“No freshman ever knows what they want to be,” said my Calculus teacher one day. Strange, I thought, because as a seventh grader I knew exactly what I wanted to be: A Pediatric Neurosurgeon. But now as the days are chilling, I am beginning to question the very dream and passion that I have pursued for the past five years. I ask myself the same question I asked myself at the age of eleven: “Who, Sara, do you want to be?”

Let’s break it down.

If you asked me what I wanted to be for the rest of my life, I would immediately go on autopilot and tell you I'd be a Pediatric Neurosurgeon.

If you asked me what I wanted to be for infinity, I would say that I want to be an explorer -- someone who has no limits to observing the connections between mathematics, language, and the stars in the universe.

If you asked me what I wanted to be if there were no limits and society was not a factor, I would tell you I want to sing and heal the world through music.

So why then, do these answers have to be different? That is my ultimate question.

What we want to be for now, for forever, and for infinity should all somehow be interlaced like fine detailed stitches.

Ask yourself, “Self, who am I?”

Then ask, “Who do I want to be?”

Finally, ask yourself, “Why am I not this already?”

It’s never too late the take all the things that you have identified yourself with and dump them all in the trash. It’s drastic to comprehend what could happen when you remove all the things that you are comfortable with and replace them with absolute unknowns, but this is the risk.

The reward is freedom. Freedom from a life of slavery to the person you were ten years ago. Freedom from obligation to the things you hate, and freedom to change into the person you want to become today.

The season has changed. Why do we have to stay the same when the very nature that surrounds us is constantly changing?

Take a look at this picture:

This image of the earth at different seasons should serve as a reminder to everyone that who you were yesterday does not have to be who you are today. Each person has their own story that contributes to the world, and we need to remember that we do not all need to be the same… and we shouldn’t be!

Figure out who you are, what you believe, and how you are going to let these ideas and morals influence the world for now and eternity. Every single day, our existence is a gift, and it’s important to keep that in mind as we live out our lives each day.