For a lot of people, change is terrifying. The uncertainty of the unknown and the effort it takes to adjust may just be too much to handle, but change is inevitable, and even healthy. Stepping out of your comfort zone and experiencing new perspectives help us grow as people. Yes, it can be scary to take a leap of faith, and you may not know what lies on the road ahead of you, but if it were not for change we would become stagnant and dull.

Recently, I decided to transfer from The University of Oklahoma to attend Northwestern Oklahoma State University. At first, I struggled with choosing whether to stay in Norman or not. Since my ultimate goal is to attend law school, my grades and involvement needed to increase. I loved OU and the city of Norman, I had a group of friends and roommates that I enjoyed spending time with. But I still felt like I was caught up in just being at school, and not actively being a part of my education. I needed to shift gears.

Throughout the process, I have transferred my apartment lease in Norman to my old roommate's younger brother, began to enroll at NWOSU with a political science and pre-law major and started focussing on getting ready for the fall semester. There is still a ways to go and I know there is more to do in order to prepare for the upcoming years, but I look forward to beginning my time at NWOSU.

I typically do not struggle with changes. Most of the time I am able to adjust and persevere until I eventually begin to thrive. However, this time I am scared. It does worry me that I might not fit in or that I will struggle to adjust to a new lifestyle and city, but my hope and enthusiasm about my future reminds me to keep pushing forward. My ability to continuously motivate myself has helped tremendously and I believe that it is a significant reason I have been able to make it to where I am now.

As a personal philosophy, I believe that change is the motor behind improvement. History is not made by those who are content to maintain the status quo. Instead, it is made by those that take their leap of faith and put themselves in the position to either succeed or fail. Those that succeed are praised and admired for their ability to seize opportunity. The failures, though, are reminded day after day of their inability to turn potential into great accomplishments. The failures have a choice, then, to either remain a failure, or try to change the status quo and become the winners. Often times people leave their potential untapped because they are afraid to fail. Luckily, the beauty behind failure is the chance for redemption.

You should never let fear limit your success. If you dwell on what could go wrong all the time, then you will miss out on everything that might go right. So take a chance, change something in your life, prove to yourself that you are a fighter and not a failure. A new start begins when you decide so, not when the timing is right.

Finally, I want to leave you with a challenge: find a part of your life this week that needs to be changed, or maybe even just change the way you do something. You may be surprised by how refreshing it is to switch up even the smallest routines.