Throughout the four years I spent in high school, I was in a relationship with someone who taught me many things about life, love, and who I am.

Recently, that relationship ended, and it has been an extremely difficult thing to deal with all while transitioning into a new place - college. I've tried pushing through it, pushing the "I miss yous" and the feelings away to try and help myself heal - pushing it out of my life in attempt to forget about it and move on.

However, somewhere in that time, I lost sight of what I want and who I want to be.

It's taken me some time to realize that I shouldn't be looking for someone to replace the boy I lost, but I should be learning to love myself.

I've realized instead of falling in love with someone else, I should be falling in love with myself. I try not to be a selfish person, I try to please others as much as possible, but I don't know how else to be, and that's another thing I'm learning. Sometimes you need to learn to be selfish, to make yourself a priority, to risk everything to learn who you are and who you want to be. I want to wake up in the morning and be able to look in the mirror and love who I see. I want to feel as if I am going to conquer the world everyday. I never want to feel unloved. I always want to be loved, even if it is only by myself.

I'm learning a lot of lessons from the people I've surrounded myself with at college. I've found people of all different shapes and sizes, people who have struggled, succeeded, overcome tragedy, and those who are just themselves and no one else. I've made lifelong friends. I've met more people than I could name off to you, but they've all left an impression on me. I've been inspired. I've been so happy that I didn't think I'd ever be sad, and I've been so sad that I didn't think I'd ever be happy. I've laughed, and loved, and everything in between, and today as I am writing this, I start with the new me - the me who is learning to love herself, to overcome her inner self, and become a better, improved person.

Realizing that I need to love myself has been the biggest lesson that I've had to learn thus far in my short life, and it's been the most important.

Besides college giving me the ability to stay up until 1 A.M. every night and be fine for my 9 A.M. class, the time management skills it's given me, and all the crazy nights I've had with my wonderful roomies and all the friends I've made, it's given me a new outlook that I don't know how to fully explain. College has given me more than I ever knew I needed.

I am ready to be me without being with someone else, to heal properly, to break out of my comfort zone, and most importantly to fall in love with myself.

I'm learning to love myself, and for that I will never be sorry.