Change Can Be Good

One of the lessons I have been learning this year is to embrace the changes in my life. Change can be scary and often feels like the wrong thing, but whether it is right or wrong, you’ll never know unless you try it. If something in your life feels wrong or you feel you could be happier, a change might be in order. After you take that step, don’t immediately retreat back to the way things were.

Be brave.

Give yourself a chance to trust yourself.

This isn’t always an easy thing to do, believe me I know. Over Christmas break I decided to make a change in my relationship and try being on my own. After over two years with the same guy, I instantly felt like I made the wrong decision. I was out of my comfort zone and could only focus on the way things used to be. With the help of my friends and mom, inspirational Pinterest quotes, and the lyrics of Ingrid Michelson, I decided that I needed to trust my instincts and see what would happen.

In the past month, I’ve become a more independent person and am more willing to accept challenges and opportunities that lead to unforeseen places. I’ve branched out more, have made new friends and I have gained self-confidence.  I can’t fall back on my boyfriend to continuously act as my confidence boost- I have to find it within myself.

Don’t get me wrong, I still struggle at times with the fact that we are no longer together. The change is really hard. I also like to think that after I have more time to focus on myself, we will get back together. But the important thing to remember is that I would have never known if I hadn’t embraced the change. Without taking that step, I would never know the personal growth I could have or what else was out there for me.

Change is foreign and scary but sometimes one small step in the right direction ends up being the biggest step of your life.

New Year, New Me

Every year on January first people all around the world set New Years resolutions. Many people set measurable goals such as lose X amount of pounds or go to the gym X times a week. I normally fall under this category as well, however this year I took a different approach to my resolutions. This year I plan to be gentler on myself.

I often beat myself up about not doing something perfectly, not knowing where I will intern, what exactly I want to do with my life, not continuing things I used to love, not having control over everything in my life or not being as healthy as I wish I was.

What I’ve realized is that I may not have it all together, but I am doing my best. I’m only human and I can’t possibly have it all figured out. I may not know what I want to do with my life or where I want to go after graduation, but I’ll figure it out as opportunities present themselves and I continue to grow both in what I’m learning and personally.

The past two weeks I’ve been working on this resolution by taking time for myself outside of my school commitments. I’ve been playing piano a lot, something I’ve always loved but have felt I needed to put aside to work on things for my future career. But the thing is, in order to live a full life you need to make time for what you love to do, things that you aren’t evaluated or graded on- things that just make you happy. I’ve also been going to the gym more and also working on not allowing events outside of my control to bother me as much as they used to.

My resolutions may not be able to be measured in a spreadsheet or visible to the world, but I will know if I’m making progress. And ya know what? If it isn’t a fast process or I lose my way sometimes… it will be ok because I’m doing the best I can and that’s all I can ask from myself.