Who am I? Who do I want to be? These are two questions I often ask myself. 

I was homeschooled up until my freshman year of high school. Until then, life was pretty simple. Growing up I attended a homeschool group that met once a week. I met some of my best friends there, a few of which I'm still super close with today. I went to church at least three times a week or more because I had no life. I attempted to play every sport I could (gymnastics was my favorite). In the summers I spent my weekends wherever my brother was playing baseball. I spent a lot of time outside with neighbors, playing hide-and-seek, climbing trees, and making "tree houses" on my back porch. My childhood was a blast. 

My life completely changed about a week before I began my freshman year of high school. As I sat around my kitchen table with my mom, brother, and sister, we prepared to start another year  of school at home. Little did we know, God had something very different in store. Because of this, we ended up making what felt like the biggest decision of my life that day. My mom had been asking me for several months, "Is there any part of you that wants to go to school? If so, now's the time." Every time I answered with a confident, "No." I had never considered going to public school, I wouldn't let my mind go there. Nothing in me even remotely wanted to go.

Honestly, that day is such a blur, but the one thing I do remember was bawling my eyes out on my mom and dad's bed because I was so terrified. I didn't know what to expect. Everything I knew about public school was what I had seen in the movies, which usually included mean teachers, big bullies, and gross lunches. I wish I could go back in time to remind my 14 year old self that sometimes the most difficult decisions end up being the biggest of blessings. 

In short, high school was awesome. Don't get me wrong, the first, and most of second, year were not easy. At all. I had to learn how to branch out, make friends, and get involved, and boy oh boy did I get involved. I went to every single game I could, joined what felt like every club possible, and maintained good grades along the way thanks to my perfectionist personality. I made the best of friends, and learned from the best of teachers. High school was awesome. Then in May of 2017, I graduated.

Hi! My name is Darby Self. I'm 19 years old, and an English major at Arkansas State University. My life stays pretty busy, and my days are usually filled with sorority events, bible studies, watching intramural games, going to the gym, and homework. I love eating great food, drinking good (hot) coffee (or Coke Zero), sleeping, singing as loud as I can to "The Greatest Showman" soundtrack, and spending lots of time with my friends, my boyfriend-of-4-years, my family, and my dog. 

In this post I hoped to efficiently answer the question, "Who am I?" and in future posts I hope to answer, "Who do I want to be?" Thanks for reading!