In a cramped town of 7.5 square miles and 23,000 people called Highland, I was a girl nobody took seriously.
I did well in school, played sports, and minded my own business. I was working on average 45 hours a week at a job my friends may refer to as "Pizza Hell." I graduated high school a semester early, and I was the most eager to get out of my town. I stayed to myself and took care of myself. People knew who I was, but didn't care for me, nor did I care for them. I never made connections for a future in The Region.
On a college campus of 22,000 other students, I am less known, but I have a greater name. I am a recognized member of many organizations, and I am respected in my communities. People approach me with opportunities that I would have never had at home. I am a busy bee (btw save the bees), and though I am easy to get a hold of, it is rather difficult to find a time that I am absolutely free.
I am not that person at home anymore, I am greater than that person was.
That person was lost, not under control, and had no purpose in anything she did. That person did not care for friends, did not care for making decisions, that person didn't even care about the effect her actions or words can have.
The girl I am today will not just do what everyone else wants, this girl will march to the beat of her own drum. She will become free of the chains the place she called home created. She is no longer afraid of who she was.
I ask questions, I educate myself, and I continue to grow. The best thing I could have done was get out of that town. I went somewhere where I knew all of 10 people, and only a year in, I am somebody.