Since coming to college, I have had the opportunity to reinvent myself. I surrounded myself with amazing people who have hearts of gold and truly care about me for who I am. They don’t care about my past, and some may not even know it, but none of that matter because they see me for who I am. I live in a city of opportunities. No longer am I the girl that sits at home waiting for something exciting to come my way. I am now the girl who goes out, either alone or with a group, and tries to experience everything that this life has to offer. From book signings to panel discussions about important situations unfolding all around us, I have decided to enrich my life in every way possible. This was very hard for me to do at first.

I was not the girl that always tried to keep herself busy. I would often times sit in my dorm room and let my life pass me by. I was scared to go out alone. Not because I was nervous about walking around the city by myself, although this was a bit of a factor, but I was afraid of meeting new people. Then one day about halfway through my Freshman year at Simmons College, I decided to take a risk and discover why life was like outside of the four walls of my dorm room.

My mom always told me that, “you will never regret taking a risk in life, but I can promise you that if you are not adventurous and don’t venture outside of your comfort zone, then you will always have regrets.” I told her advice and slowly started to go outside of my comfort zone. It started with picking cute coffee shops to do school work. I went to the Boston Public Library to study sometimes and loved the feeling of being surrounded by books and beauty. As the year continued, I even decided to attend some social events alone, such as Citywide-an event that Cru puts on. I ended up running into friends at many of these events, so I really wasn’t alone. But if I continued to fear venturing out by myself, I would not have had the chance to spend time with them and grow closer to them.

This year, I have tried to go out even more. I have gone to various panels and book discussions. I am hoping to rejoin the book club that I was part of last year. I spend warm, beautiful days in the Boston Common and sip coffee on Newbury Street. I venture over to Cambridge, usually to the Harvard Kennedy School, to hear politicians talk about what is going on in the world around us. Sometimes I get lost on my way to these events. But there is no clear path to self growth and happiness, and that is a comforting feeling.