Grateful for: Change
By: Sydney Kerr
Four months ago I moved to my new home, Austin, Texas where I now go to school. I moved here from out of state in Florida, and before that, Toronto, Canada, so I guess you can say in the past four years, there has been a lot of new change. Now, I have never really liked change if I am being honest. It makes you all nervous and shaken, and I hate that feeling that there is no one familiar behind you ready to help if you fall. However, this year I have embraced change in a way I had never prior in my life. I have made some amazing friends, made a home in a state I never thought I would ever live in, and started my path towards a career I have always dreamt of. While it has been scary to jump into the unknown of being an adult and doing everything on my own, it has been one of the most amazing times in my life and I am so happy that I took a leap of faith and decided to come. So for this year, I must say that I am thankful for change.
Change is a weird concept. We spend our whole lives surrounding ourselves with people, places and things that make us feel safe and comfortable, and the idea that it can all change in an instant is hard to even think about. However, keeping an open mind and perspective can make a major difference in how one goes about growing through it. One year ago today, I felt stuck. Everyday felt the same, waking up, going to school, coming home and going back to sleep. I would wake and think to myself, “I can’t wait until I can come back into bed when this day is over.” It was hard to be in a place and go to a school that made me feel so much pain everyday and remind me of the hurt that I witnessed, and I just wanted to be out. Looking back a year ago from today, I do not think that I realized that change would make the biggest difference in my happiness and gratitude for being in this world. Now, I live in a city, in a new environment and I could not be more happy and excited to continue down this path.
I like to believe that everything happens for a reason, and I take comfort in the idea that while things might seem hard or as though they will never get better, change will allow us to come out the other side even stronger, just in a different way than we may have imagined. I miss my Florida friends and family, and I am so grateful to still have them by side. However, I really needed this change in order to find myself and reinvent what I defined as “happy,” and I think I am starting to find that. I am so grateful that I have begun to call this place my home and cannot continue to pursue my dream for my future and along with my friends and family always standing behind me.