We live with fear in our everyday lives. Fear of losing our loved ones, fear of being torn down by a more powerful, more defiant human. We fear the unknown.

We live with boundaries in our everyday lives. Boundaries on our sense of fashion, boundaries on our opinions. We have to filter every word and thought that crosses our mind out of fear we are hurting someone else while in the meantime these words and thoughts consume us. They consume the real me, the me I want to be.

We live with limited perspectives in our everyday lives. Limited perspectives of the kind, whole-hearted, possible best friend that walks by us while we're on our phones. We limit our senses. We don't see the beauty of clothed green trees before they ripen to autumn colors. We don't hear the squirrels chomping on the hard, rock-like nuts in the diag. We seem too busy. The world seems too busy.

Many of us grew up in a world where our parents advocated for us. It's in their blood because they care so deeply for their children's emotions. But a lesson to be learned and to guide you toward achievement and self-awareness is to advocate for yourself. Express what you want, not what you think others want from you.

At the University of Michigan, I learned to believe in myself. I learned to use the part of my brain that I never go to because I feel like I shouldn't. I learned to ignore my filter as my confidence blocks the unknown. This unknown could be great or it could be rough or somewhere in between, but if you never show it or never say it you'll never know.

The trek, the voyage, and the discovery of one expedition in my time at the University of Michigan has led me to find my space and myself. My perspective of my individuality has grown in surprises and in originality due to my ability to forget others judgements and instead work with the judgements and for the judgements. If I break my wall of fear, if I avoid my limited perspective, if I advocate for my beliefs, I will motivate myself to give our world a piece of me.