I believe that good things come out of bad situations. On my first day of college, I accidentally said, “The first step to finding your way is getting lost.” Reflecting upon my life so far and everything that has happened to me, I am a firm believer in that statement. For me, the best of times come after the worst of times, when I can truly appreciate being happy because I’ve known sadness. Since the bad times play just as much of a role in life as the good times, they both need to be relished, be grateful to have the opportunity to test your strength against the world and be thankful that things can only go up once you reach the bottom.

For the longest time, I thought my biggest fear in life was that I was going to end up alone. I was scared that I was going to have to spend all of my years on Earth without my soulmate, I was scared that I wouldn’t find “the one.” After spending some time on my own, I discovered that I’m not afraid of being alone, my fear was deeper than that. It wasn’t something silly like spiders (although I hate them), snakes or the dark, my biggest fear was and is to not be wanted. This isn’t some adolescent wish to be popular among my friends, it’s about being loved and wanted in someone’s life; after I discovered this, being alone seemed like less of a fear than it had before.

Regardless, I am still afraid of being alone, but less now than I once was. Now, after feeling as though I was alone in this world, I realize that I have always been proven wrong. There are always people that think of you, so long as someone notices your presence and what you do then you can never be alone. There will always be someone in the same situation as you, what we as humans affect and what affect us are too powerful to only reach one person; a good deed doesn’t stop right after it’s occurred and a tragedy rarely, if ever, affects only one person. Sometimes we don’t talk about it, but you aren’t alone. When you are trapped inside your own mind, when you don’t understand why you have to think this way, you aren’t alone then, there’s at least one person out there who thinks just like you.

If you feel as though you are all alone you will always be proved wrong, sometimes you aren’t paying enough attention to yourself even when someone else is. When I have felt alone I have found someone to prove me wrong, often times it is a new friend and occasionally I find a part of myself I didn’t know existed.

The times I have felt alone were some of the darkest in my life and from those dark, lonely times I have grown more than I ever thought I would. I was lost, I didn’t know everything about myself (I still don’t) but I’m beginning to find my way and I’m learning a lot about myself. I welcome the challenges and the darkness that is inevitable in our lives, it makes us stronger and eventually I won’t be able to feel alone anymore.