Like most kids, I had always wanted to do everything when I was growing up. Everything, that is, except eat my vegetables or go to bed at a reasonable hour (something that has apparently carried into my adult life). Many other things, however, I was lucky enough to be involved in, even when my mom had to drive me from soccer practice to a softball game to dance lessons all in the same evening. Pretty much every time they offered an arts and crafts activity after school, I was there. This childhood exploration followed me into middle school, where I had thought I found a passion for music and theater until I tried out for all-state choir and every play in sixth grade and got callbacks to a total of zero. I guess that wasn't really my destiny.

During high school, although I was still involved, playing soccer and lacrosse and an occasional club here and there, I found myself sitting at home doing the same things day after day. I found excuses to say no to people asking me to hang out and never seized the opportunity to try something new. It was all one big routine.

By the time I was going to be a senior, I was doing very little. School, sports, work and naps ruled my life. I don't know how I got this way for a period in my life. Maybe it was because I felt awkward trying new things and embarrassed that people wouldn't like me or be better than me. When you're a kid, nobody cares, but when you're about to enter into the adult world, actions have consequences. I couldn't risk being seen as a failure. So, there I sat at home, never branching out of my social circle and making up excuses to stay out of clubs.

Then, I made a resolution: Senior year, I would do whatever I wanted, and I wouldn't care what people thought about me. I would finally join the clubs I never had as an underclassman and hang out with people who I had always politely declined. This year, I would say yes.

To be clear on one thing, it's not that I didn't reserve my right to say no in situations I deemed I couldn't handle or were dangerous. Giving up my safety or my safety or my sanity wasn't something I could do.

What I could give up was my comfort, and boy, did it change my life.

Never had I been more of a believer in a cliché than I did then about getting out of your comfort zone. Whenever someone asked to hang out, I did. I joined all the clubs I thought would be fun since freshman year but never had the nerve to join. I accepted leadership positions. What I was presented with was new opportunities, new friends, new experiences and new memories. I stopped with the mundane schedule and began to realize the beauty of the world around me while I began to discover who I really was.

There's a reason children want to do it all. It's because they're still discovering who they really are and what this world is all about. Why do we give up the thrill of exploration as we grow up? We probably will never be able to completely understand who we are, our likes and dislikes, our passions and talents. Discovery is a process we go through our whole lives, and the only way to ever truly know ourselves is to never stop exploring. It all starts with saying yes.