Taking a risk isn’t an easy thing. Whether it be moving to a new city for the first time, taking a job in a field where you don’t have much experience, or even trying new food, taking a risk can be scary and unfamiliar and intimidating. Even though it may be all of those things, it’s always worth it.

I’ll be the first to admit that I wasn’t always one to take risks. A part of that comes from the fact that I don’t really like change. I like things to stay the same. There’s comfort in familiarity, but the older I get the more I realize that things can’t stay the same forever. Places, situations and people are inevitably going to change and you have to learn to deal with it. That’s why when a risk comes knocking at your door you should take it. If you’re inevitably going to change, why not make it for the better? I do have some trouble with this myself and I wouldn’t say that I take huge risks, but I’m working on it because the ones that I have taken have been very beneficial and have taught me a lot.

For example, this summer I decided to live in Ithaca. I have a few jobs up here and I was able to find a place to live pretty quickly, so I said, "Why not?" I’ve only been up here two weeks, but I’ve already learned a lot about myself. For instance, I’ve learned that cooking isn’t really my strong suit and when you buy groceries you should probably buy in bulk, otherwise you’ll be making several trips to the grocery store in a span of four days if you don’t. Now, if I had decided to live “comfortably” on Long Island all summer like I do every year, I probably wouldn’t have learned these things. There are things I do already miss about spending the summer “comfortably” on Long Island though. For example, spending time with two of my closest friends back home, going to the beach whenever I feel like it and having my family around me 24/7. It’s hard now, but as one of my professors once told me, I have to “get comfortable with being uncomfortable.”

If you live comfortably for too long things can get kind of boring. You hang around the same town and do the same things; I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with this or you won’t miss it (I do), but it can get pretty monotonous and if you do it for too long, you’ll end up driving yourself crazy. Life is meant to be lived – you’re meant to take risks and go on adventures. That’s the only way you’ll find out what you do like and what you don’t like. You may love to bungee jump, but you’ll never know unless you try. You may also love to eat chocolate covered insects, and it sounds really gross but you’ll never know unless you try. It’s okay to be afraid to do something, but don’t let that fear stop you from doing it.

You never want that fear to stop you from doing whatever you may desire because that’s when you might have to live with regret. I never ever want to look back on my life with regret. When I’m older, I want to know that I lived life to the fullest and took advantage of all the awesome opportunities that came my way. I want to have awesome stories to tell my children and grandchildren about, ones that will make them say, “There’s no way you actually did that!” But I can’t do that by living the same life that has been familiar to me for the past 20 years. So go out and take that job in an unfamiliar city, take that gap year after you graduate to figure things out, go to grad school or don’t. The point is, don’t let things get too familiar. Once they do, I think it’s time for a change.