The time has officially come. I’m not sure I have the easiest time expressing through words everything that I have truly learned this year. So many things have happened in a short span of time, good and bad. I lost some of my closest friends, but gained some of my greatest new friendships. I have felt the loneliest I ever have in my life, but also felt completely whole and surrounded by never ending love. I have experienced heartbreak and new love, pain and joy. The most important lesson I learned this year was about myself.
Before coming to college, I had codependency issues and I thought I carried the weight of the world on my shoulders. I planned everything out to the very second (and sometimes I still do). I am a planner to my core, and I always will be, but through some friendships I’ve made this year, and some I’ve lost, I have learned that not everything is up to me. My religion is a huge part of my life and that has gotten me through everything this year. I’ve learned to lean on God above all else because ultimately nothing is up to me. It’s a hard lesson to learn that you really cannot control anything, and you are not in charge of your life or other peoples. That is another thing I had to learn; how to let go of other people’s decisions. I can only control how I react. Overall, this year has taught me a lot about how to be alone, how to handle any situation that comes my way, and how to not only let go of things or people in my life, but how to receive new joy in people and places that were once out of my comfort zone.