If you would have told me in high school that I would end up taking a semester off, I would have laughed in your face and denied it. I was always the type of person that was dead set on college, knew exactly what I was going to school for and was ready to dive in to complete my degrees on time, if not early, but that all changed.

My first two years of undergrad was great but exhausting and by the middle of the first semester my sophomore year, I wasn't sure if college was what I wanted to do anymore.

I was tired, lost motivation, and flat out just stopped caring; so after all that and medical stuff going on I decided it was time to finally take a break. I'm only a few months into my "break semester", but so far it has changed a lot in my life. I am in the middle of rediscovering who I am, where I want to be in a few years, and what truly makes me happy.

I have learned that my mental and physical health is most important. I was terrible at taking care of my health in all aspects; I never slept and if I did I overslept, I overworked myself mentally and physically in class, work, and at the gym.

I remember overall at one point in the semester I was working 62 hours a week on top of taking 16 seated credit hours. I used to chug energy drinks, take pills, and drink gallons of coffee to stay awake and get everything done until it literally gave me heart problems. I did not take care of myself, it was the least of my worries, I figured school was more important, but it is not.

Since taking the semester off, I have grown up a little bit. I no longer party. On Saturday nights you can catch me at the local Applebees serving or sitting on my couch at home petting my dog. I realized I liked being alone, doing chill things and just relaxing or making a little money rather than going out, boozing up and going to every social event.

Although I do miss my friends from school, purple Fridays and 1 am trips to Rally's after a big night out; I love being home with my family, working on my health, and just flat out having more time to myself. I have more time to think about and appreciate the little things in life. My goal for the end of this off semester is to come to the decision on whether I truly want to continue classes and if I do whether the path I was on with my majors is still what I want to do or whether my path will change.