Nothing is more satisfying than realizing that you don’t have to be satisfied. Granted it’s crucial that you appreciate yourself for the way that you are but there is always room for progress. Humanity flourishes under promise of growth, we’re like flowers. We need sunshine but we also strengthen in the dark.

This last year for me has been a lot about self-exploration and understanding. I’ve not been focused on dedicating my heart to anyone else. I’ve learned to be patient. Well, I’m learning anyways. I’m not saying it’s easy because it certainly isn’t. I’m learning to appreciate and treat myself in the ways I want others to treat me. I deserve the love I hope I’ll encounter someday, but I first have had to learn to appreciate myself. I appreciate my family and my friends and I give them all of my heart because every relationship you have in life is important and plays a role in the development of who you are as an individual.

I’ve met so many people that have taught me lessons I couldn’t have taught myself at school. Time becomes precious when you’re really busy, and where you chose to spend it becomes important too. I have to prioritize my intense loads of psychology homework. Some days I break down. I feel like the weight of everything I have going on at once crushes me and I don’t know how I’ll make it through. But I’ve got beautiful people surrounding me and pushing me to keep going because what I’m doing is worthwhile. I’ll get where I want to be one day by continuous hard work. They’re also teaching me to love the chaos and absorb the madness of life right now because it too will soon be a memory that I’ll look back on from a distant future that will present its own challenges for me. I look forward to what comes next while I tear my hair out right now.

My best friend Natalie is at a different school than I am and it makes it difficult sometimes because I can’t drive ten minutes to her house to play guitar hero and laugh until obnoxious hours of the night like we can in the summer. We can facetime or text when we have the time, but we’re both crazy busy. Our friendship has grown and evolved into a mutual understanding and respect for each other’s’ time and schedules as we happily await seeing one another whenever we can make it happen. I miss her endlessly while I’m away but whenever we hug after weeks of being away it’s as if we were never apart. No girl has ever felt more like a sister to me.

I work through my weeks of work looking forward to my regular coffee dates with Amanda in the Sweetspot downtown Whitewater. Her smile and warm heart bring me back down to earth. She’s just as busy, if not more busy than I am and we work through the difficulties together. She is there for me each day despite her dreadful work load and I have never become so close to someone so quickly. I can’t wait until we have summer adventures and time to relax and I am thankful for her.

I’ve met my great roommate Leah who checks in on me every day and leaves me encouraging sticky notes in places I’ll find them when I need them most. She keeps me in check and makes sure that I remember to take care of myself. She makes me laugh and I’m grateful for her.

I have my amazing high school friends Lizzie and Audra who have stuck with me through the years and continue to make me smile from Madison and Port Washington. I look forward to hearing about their adventures and our visits that always seem too short and I know that each time we get to see one another we’ll laugh until we cry because our hearts are forever intertwined. They have done so much for me over the years and they continue to help me become who I want to be. I love our friendships.

My friend Zuhayr carried over from summer when we met at FM 102.1 and we’ve had a great number of adventures together from concerts to escaping the lull of campus on weekends to go to Janesville just because. He’s taught me to love where I am, to appreciate my campus. I have finally become a part of a community because of him and for that I am very thankful.

The best part of it all is that at the end of the hardest of weeks I can plug my aux cord into my phone and head on the 2 hour excursion homeward to walk in my door and find my loving family who supports me through thick and thin waiting to hear about my progress. I rest easy knowing that I have people surrounding me who want to see me do well. I grow for them.

I challenge myself to be better and become better every day because I have an extensive support system and because I want to be that kind of support system for everyone I can as well. We grow together. We grow upward through hardships and heartbreaks. At the end of the day we stand together and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

To be a work in progress is to appreciate and acknowledge where you are as a person with those who surround you but to also recognize your areas of weakness in an attempt to work toward the person you’ve always wanted to be.