As soon as college started, life became extremely different. I knew my life would change a substantial amount when college began, but the most nerve-racking part was not knowing what changes would occur. Change can be painful and much harder to grasp when your whole life is being reworked. A little over a month ago, countless students left their homes, families, friends and everything they have known or partaken in behind. Embracing all of these changes is overwhelming, but I constantly remind myself that embracing these changes is the key to a healthy transition.

The first leaf that I saw fall on campus reminded me of how every season would now be different. There’s no more high school homecoming. I wouldn’t be able to view the colorful tuxedo’s and luxurious dresses flutter around the schoolyard. There’s no more piling every friend you can fit in your car after school to blast music and drive around town before dropping them off after school.

Every day at school, I thought “I can’t wait to leave, I hate this town!” Thankfully, I started to appreciate my hometown greatly towards the end of my senior year. Hometowns will always be special. It is where we have experienced the majority of our lives.

Living in my hometown and attending high school, I knew everyday what was to come. I knew who I would see in the halls, what neighbor I would see out in their yard, and of course my routine that I followed everyday for nearly 18 years. Once you leave your hometown, you start to realize how much it means to you, and how you should have appreciated it more. But the faster we realize that it is no longer our permanent home, the better we can adjust to our new life. I still visit home frequently. I only stay for a short period of time, so It will be easier to go back to college. It has been easier to embrace moving away each visit. “I only come to visit”, I remind myself. Once I leave, I know I will always be able to come back whenever I want. You never know how much seeing a rickety gas station or a familiar backroad from your hometown will mean to you when you see it again. But, I must look forward to the new landmarks that will forever be in my memory.

Not seeing my family everyday was rough, miserable at times. I am very close with them, so talking on the phone once a week and the occasional texting will take some more getting used to. I just have to understand that they want me to embrace my full potential, and I will not reach it by staying home.

To grow and create new memories, we must come to terms that we cannot stay forever. We must branch out, and break into new things. We have to force our selves out of our comfort zone, and that is sometimes the hardest part.

I realized as soon as college started that I had to let go of my ego and preferences, and its a challenging experience. I felt as if I wasn't being true to myself by doing this, but I began to understand I would not make any progress if I chose to stay who I have been my whole life.

As a senior in high school, you’re at the top. It’s what we’ve been waiting for our whole academic career. Underclassmen yearn to be our friends, We have strong relationships with the school faculty, and then once college starts, It seemed as if things were reverting back to the way it was when I was 14. It was difficult to not be close to the professors right off the bat, sometimes not even having relationships with them at all. Living in a dorm or a communal setting is still one of the scariest adjustments. When I get frustrated with this, I remember this great opportunity I’m blessed with to be able to live away from home and expand my education. I had to let go of how things in high school were, or I would be cheating myself of the college experience.

Meeting new people, I began to feel as if I'm the annoying younger friend again. I wondered what organizations to join as well. I faced difficulty with being at the bottom again, because in high school I thrived at what I was involved in. Now it’s all different. I had to realize that I’m going to have to work very hard to reach where I want to be. The quickest way to do that is to let go of what things were like, and focus on what is to come. I’m going to have to go through the whole cycle again with friends, grades, and activities. It became apparent to me that I have to partake in things I have no clue about. College allows students to immerse in an eclectic range of groups, and you are doing yourself a disservice if you don’t try something new. This is the time for us to experiment with everything we can get our hands on. There are so many opportunities to learn and thrive. We have to kick the habit of saying “I’ve never done that before.” We must say “I’m going to do something different, and experience something new.”

I was in Theater and Choir in school, but in college I’m playing sports in social settings. “Who would have thought?” I often murmur to myself. My heart pounds like a drum from nervousness ever time I step onto a court or field. Walking off I am overwhelmed with how proud I am of myself, because I’m making a positive change. Twice a week I run two miles with the Cheerleaders, and I’m the kid who used to skip P.E. class. I often question myself about this drastic change, but I’m adapting to my new normal, and loving every second of it.

The faster we let go of how our school experience used to be, the faster we will propel into our full potential at college. Our memories linger in our head, and are there to bring happiness when we think about our past. Yet me must not let the past dictate the future. We have to let go of our former school experience so we can embrace this one. After all, College is the beginning to the rest of our lives.