While I was headed back to school after winter break, I didn't really know what to expect for rush week. I had been looking forward to rushing for the entire first semester, so I was excited that I was finally going to find my place after a semester of anxiously waiting.

I spent many times over break googling tips for sorority rush, or asking my friends at other schools for tips on what to say at each "party". Once rush week started, I realized that nothing or no one could prepare me for how hard it was going to be.

I soon realized that rush week would become one of the worst weeks of my life.

The first day was very long, and it was a challenge to try to be the best energetic version of myself to every person I talked to. Some conversations were really great, and others not so much. But overall I thought things went really well. But then the second day came around, and I found out that I was cut from a lot of places that I thought I could've fit in with. And that's when I realized that this process was going to be a lot harder than I thought.

As day three came around, the cuts kept coming... and the more tense each girl became. You could see the tension between the girls where some friends would get cut from places and others wouldn't. You would pass by crying girls in almost every corner of every room. And you couldn't go through the day without wondering where you will get cut from the next day. It felt like the week was never ending, and you could tell everyone just wanted to go back home.

But here is how one of the worst weeks of my life turned into the best.

The only time when I wasn't miserable during rush week was when I was at the parties of the specific sorority that would soon become my home. When I went to this sorority, I felt like I could finally breathe and have amazing conversations about things that I actually wanted to talk about. I didn't feel as comfortable anywhere else as I did here, but I tried not to think about it too much because I didn't want to get my hopes up.

But when bid day came around and I opened my bid from the sorority I wanted, I could not have been more happy. In fact, I thought I was dreaming. Rush week had been absolute hell for me, yet it all managed to work out exactly how I wanted it to.

But I know that some people did not get this lucky, or at least they didn't think they did.

But as I look back on this experience three weeks later, and friends from other schools ask me for tips on how to get through rush week, all I have to say is this:

Everything happens for a reason, and everything that is meant to be will be.

Now I know that sounds cliché, but I really do mean it. If you go into rush week only having one sorority in mind, it is likely that you will be disappointed. If you keep an open mind throughout the week, you may find your home in a place you never expected. You may also realize that the rush process isn't for you, and that's okay too. You may get cut from places you really like and decide to drop rush, and even that is meant to be too. You may discover that you like not being confined to a sorority, and you may also decide that you'll just try rush again next year. But everything works out in the end the way it is supposed to, and this stressful week will help you discover a lot about yourself no matter what the outcome is.

So whether you went through rush already, are rushing within the next few weeks, are in a sorority or not, I promise that you are right where you are supposed to be, and you should not stress about the past or the future.