Shakespeare once said, “The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” For many, finding your gift is the hard part. I, like many others, struggled to figure out what I am truly good at and what I could add to my sorority. Then, one day, it clicked. From that day on, over a year ago, I knew that somehow, someway, I wanted to be the Service Chair of Tau Lambda Sigma. Well, a year later, I got my wish. In the last two weeks of the semester my sisters chose me to serve as their Service Chair for the fall. The excitement I felt was indescribable. I was on cloud nine and over the moon to say the least. Service is one of my absolute passions in life and now I got to share that passion even more so with my sisters.

Once I got past the excitement of my impending position, another emotion set in. Fear can be blinding, and I was having trouble seeing through it. An officer position has a lot of responsibility attached. I now had to come up with service opportunities during which my sisters would be making a true difference. I have 100 girls counting on me. This is the most important officer position I have ever held in any organization, and the emotions are complex. I am terrified. I am excited. I am nervous. I am happy. I am conflicted. More than anything else, I am thankful.

I had to stop. I had to sit down, pinpoint why I was so scared to take on this position. Why I was so afraid of failure. That was when I realized, I was scared to fail because my sisters mean to much to me. Without these 100 amazing family members in my life where would I be? I finally realized that I was scared because I didn’t want to let them down. I also realized just how silly that idea really was. The reason that I love my sisters so much, the reason I feel I can come to them with anything, is because they love me through it all.

After this scary, exciting, and busy summer, I have realized that no matter your sorority, organization, leadership position, or lack there of, what matters is the connections you make. I am still nervous and still want to do a great job, but I also know that the girls that are holding me accountable will forgive me when I stumble. It is inevitable, everyone stumbles, takes a wrong turn, or makes a bad decision. The best part of being in an organization is that you don’t have to go through it alone, you have so many kind and caring individuals around you to support you! Tau Lambda Sigma will, undoubtedly, support me through my trials and tribulations this coming fall as their service chair. I am confident that my sisters will love me through everything, and that makes me even more excited to help them serve our Kirksville community.