Have you ever wanted to go on an adventure of a life time? A whole new experience, not knowing what life may present to you and not knowing what your next step maybe. Sometimes we are given that opportunity without even knowing it, and sometimes we question and are fearful of what comes after that big step. What's important though is to trust yourself, no matter what life throws at you, you are going to be okay. Taking a step into the unknown is scary! A high school student starting college, a college student starting that first big job, or even moving away from your family. These are all big steps and intimidating ones at that.

You never know what life may throw at you

I was that high school student at one point, and at the time I was so excited about starting that new chapter of my life. I had no idea that the plan I had of finishing college, getting a job, finding Mr. Right and starting a family would completely changed. I was given such a different path than what I imagined and some of it sadly I do regret, but none the less it was a learning curve for me. The Mr. Right that I met freshman year was a Mr. Wrong. But the experience that I had while with him, made me really grow up. I started out in college as a Secondary Special Education Major, my personality is a caregiver and a teacher but after I had doubted whether that field suited me I changed to Nursing. Growing up, I never once considered even going to school for that. While I went to nursing school, I took a job with a Dementia facility. That job gave me a whole new outlook on just a small part of the nursing field and it also provided me with some life long friends. After working at the facility and doing my clinical the first semester, I realized that this was also not the path that I wanted to take I wanted to see growth not pain and suffering. So where did I go from there?

Remember your experience

While with Mr. Wrong, an opportunity presented itself for us to move to Colorado. Now I am from Pennsylvania, and so is all of my family. I never lived more than three hours away from them and I was very close with them. But not being in school and being 21, when was I ever going to get an opportunity like this again? (this is what I thought at the time) So, we decided to pack everything up and move across six states to Colorado. I worked with amazing people in an Autistic/Behavioral School and if you're a special education teacher you would understand that some of the stories you come home with are, well you had to be there to believe it. The job taught me life lessons and opened my eyes to a whole new world of kids that I came to love so dearly and wanted to make a difference. The adventures I had were amazing and breath taking. I hiked so many 14er's and saw parts of the Rocky Mountains that no car would ever be able to get to and no photograph would ever do justice. But what I remember most is getting to the top of that mountain and looking at how small the world really was. Remembering all of the times with the friends I had made at my job were great ways to learn simple things about life.

Cherish each memory you make

Unfortunately for me, my time in Colorado came to end. After leaving Mr. Wrong and learning that love is not always as easy as the movies make it seem and that not all people in this world are good, which was one of the hardest lessons that I had to learn. So I moved back to Pennsylvania. But what I took from the past four years is this, even if the path you take is not the one you imagined or planned, cherish it and learn from it. It's not always going to be a straight path, it's going to have bumps, potholes, twists and turns. But what we take from those experiences is what matters. So remember all of the good times and learn from the bad ones. Make the choices that you believe are right. You learn from your experiences and the choices that you make. At the time the unknown is scary, but you never know what life is going to give you.

"Don't let the fear of the unknown keep you from experiencing a life greater than you have ever known."
JEFF MCCLUNG