As someone who has been uncomfortable with variation from the normal routine for as long as I can remember, learning to welcome change into my life has been quite the challenge. Entering senior year, I couldn't wait to move on from high school and get to college. I knew I'd soon be encountering a lot of new experiences but I didn't realize how much my life would actually be changing.

With my first year of college out of the way, I've become accustomed to living with change - for the most part. The obvious changes took place as soon as I began living on campus away from home. I met new people, left my childhood house, and entered a new city. These aspects were all expected and as nervous as I was, I wasn't scared. I kept myself from being fearful of all these transitions by constantly reminding myself of the things that would stay the same. Little did I know, these would change as well.

I believed that moving away from the small town I grew up in would be nothing but a blessing. I felt as though I hated being in the same place for so long with the same familiar faces. That part turned out to be true. Living in a new place taught me things that I otherwise wouldn't have had the chance to learn. Moving away provides you with so many new experiences and being anonymous in a big city is something I've always found enjoyable. However, living somewhere else for the majority of the past year has given me a new outlook on my hometown. Basically, it's not as crappy as everyone makes it out to be. I never thought that I would feel happy coming home to the streets and people that I've grown up around, but I do. I've come to appreciate what my town gave me growing up. This change in mindset was something I never expected to happen.

Another unexpected change came from the friends I had from home. Going into college, I expected my long time group of friends to remain in contact the entire school year. I expected reunions over breaks that resulted in exchange of stories from our new experiences. What I didn't expect was that it would be possible for me, and many of my other friends, to find themselves more completed by the people in their new towns than the ones back at home.

It is easy to expect change to occur when you're altering your normal routine. You can name a few things that you know will be different and you focus on preparing yourself for those changes. That is why those expected changes rarely change who we are. The changes that alter our hearts and minds are the ones that we don't see coming. These changes are the places that you didn't know you would miss. They're the people you meet along your journey that you didn't realize would be more important to you than the people you've known all your life. They are all the experiences you've had that aren't story worthy- the new daily routines that you've come to cherish. As someone who has always been fearful of change, I invite you to view change in a new light and welcome it.