Change is something we all go through all the time. Albeit, some changes are life-changing while others are more subtle. We sometimes want to fight change and wish that we could stay in the present, that time wouldn't continue and everything could just stay the way it is. This used to be my mindset before I moved to Tampa, Florida from the northern Kentucky area - somewhere I had lived for almost my entire life. This is the story about how I learned to accept and embrace change.

I loved growing up in Kentucky. There were plenty of ups and downs, but for the most part, I loved it. I loved living in the countryside as a child, being able to smell the fresh grass and dew, a few deer in the distance. As I got older, I grew a lot as a person, met people who would lay the groundwork for who I would become through the experiences we would share together.

I attended Northern Kentucky University my freshman year with the intention to stay. However, there were a lot of reasons that would go against that mindset. I think we go through hell in order to grow and that would sum up my freshman year. There was a lot of realization - about myself, about the real world, about people. Progressively, things only worsened during my time there. I wasn't myself. I wasn't feeling good mentally or physically. I was confused and lost. My major at the time was going nowhere, I felt I was going nowhere, and I was surrounded by people who did not understand me. Equally the same, I did not understand them.

I wonder, as college students, how many of us have felt this way. How many of us have felt like we've fallen and there's no way out of the hole in which we have dug for ourselves? I am writing this to remind you that you are never alone - no matter how you feel. There are so many of us who feel like everything is unraveling. Maybe it is, but only for you to create something even better than what you currently have.

My parents told me that they were moving to Tampa mid first semester of my freshman year. I told them that was good for them, but that I full well intended to stay at Northern Kentucky. I felt like I had to push through, that I had to prove to everyone who saw me hurting that I was stronger than that. My parents kept pushing Tampa for months to come, but everytime, my response was the same. I even applied to be a Resident Assistant on campus as a sure-fire way to get them to let me stay. I told myself, "If I do not get this position, I will consider moving to Tampa."

I made it to the fifth and final round of interviews and did not get accepted. Still, I was stubborn and wanted to just stay. At that point, I was feeling extremely bogged down and hopeless, but I still wanted to stay just to prove to myself that I was stronger than what I felt I was. I sought guidance in friends who I knew were strong and wise and they told me, "This move might be a gift from the universe."

After another argument with my parents, I took it as a sign: I needed to move away from my home.

My friends were right. This move was a blessing in disguise. I wasn't weak for moving, I was accepting change and flow into my life. It can be hard, ridiculously and exceedingly, hard to accept change. Sometimes, it's needed. I never realized how little I had spent time with just myself my whole life. The move to Tampa made me independent and stronger than I ever would have been had I stayed and "pushed through."

Accepting change is not giving in and it is not being "weak." It's realizing that sometimes we need something different in our lives in order to go in the right direction. Just like when swimming, fighting the current will only tire you out. It seems so much easier to stay put and may sometimes feel like the right thing to do, but my advice is this: if the winds of change come your way, stop fighting. Let go and flow with the changes that may happen in you life rather than fight it.