I'l be the first to admit it; I hate change. I hate when classes shift at the semester and I find myself wandering the unfamiliar halls, freshly printed schedule clutched in hand. I hate when Apple decides to get all fancy on me and comes out with another iOS update that inevitably messes up my outdated generation iPhone. Most of all, I hate saying goodbye to my best friends at the end of every school year.

This time around, I delayed the painful separation by 6 weeks, staying for spring term in Ann Arbor with a whole crew of my best pals. We got to enjoy the sunny skies, sketchy Skeeps nights and staying together for an extra month and a half. But, as all things do, our time came to an end.

One by one, I watched teary eyed as my friends packed their belongings and drove off in full cars, not to be seen again until August. Maybe I was being a little dramatic, but I suddenly found myself thinking, "What on earth will I do without them? How will I survive?!" Keep in mind, these are the girls I've lived with for the past ten months-- ten months of late night cereal, movie nights, heart to hearts, bumming and slumming, brunching, studying and all around goofing with. These are the girls who've come to mean so much to me, and probably know me just as well if not better than I know myself. And so, I ask myself, "How will I last until welcome week without them?"

After an appropriate period of mourning and wallowing and a few good nights out with one of the few friends staying summer term with me, I've realized something: change is change and it can suck a lot, but that's just the way it is. And it doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing. 

Last night, my friend Julie and I went out on our own, braving the summer term scene with no more than a few familiar faces and each other. We had a time. It was warm and we were free and we met so many new people. And it wasn't the same as spring term--of course it wasn't--but it was fun. It was a completely different dynamic with a different group of people. But it really was fun, and that got me thinking; sometimes we need change. Sometimes, change can be a good thing.

Recently, I decided to chop off 9 inches of my hair. Once past my elbows, my dark brown hair now hits just at the collar bone. I haven't had short hair since the sixth grade. Usually when visiting the hair dresser, I flutter with anxiety and beg for the fewest inches possible to be taken off. But in this instance, what came over me? What compelled me to make such a drastic change? I don't really know. But I do know, now at least, that change doesn't have to be a big bad unsettling thing. Change can be really really good, positive thing. 

Sometimes we get into ruts without even realizing it. Whether it be the same school-work-exercise-study-eat-sleep routine or a hair style you've had since you were twelve, you don't even realize how flat your life can become.

I reject that.

Spring term flew by, and I know the rest of the summer will too. Before we know it, rush will start up again, classes will commence and we'll all be on to the next thing. And they say time just continues to go by faster and faster. I don't know about you, but I don't want to waste or miss a moment of this crazy, unpredictable life. I want to enjoy and relish every drop of it. Why let it fester and fall into a humdrum bore?

So next time you feel your spirits dropping and you begin to reflect on things that bring you down, get out there and do something about it. Step out of your comfort zone and do something you never would have thought you would. Make a change.