Lately, I've been struggling.

This is my second year of college, but when I moved away before to the university that I was attending, it seemed easier. It was only a 35-40 minute drive away from my house, I could come home really whenever I wanted because I wasn't too far away. That helped me a lot because as someone who loves to be around her family, the comfort of knowing that I was pretty close to home made a difference for me.

As much as I liked my school, I decided to take a step in a more career oriented direction. Transferring schools, to a bigger university - one of the best ones around for a Psychology major. Transferring schools however, meant moving further away from my home. My new school is about an hour and a half from my home. As excited as I was for my new start, I knew the transition wasn't going to be easy. I was right. Moving in was okay, I made it through and yes, I have been liking it so far. But that doesn't change the fact that I've been struggling.

The first day of classes, I got a text from my mom saying that she was proud of me and good luck on my first day, and as sweet as it was, it was my breaking point. I missed home so much, my mom especially. As soon as I read her text, I broke down into tears because the first day of classes at this new school meant that it was really happening. I was really here, starting classes, and that meant that I wasn't at my old school anymore.

I've continued to struggle in the past weeks that I've been here, however as much I've struggled during this time, I've kept going. I get up, go to class, I recently got a job, and I'm continuing. Losing my hope isn't going to make me successful, losing hope isn't going to help me in any way but push me behind.

I wrote this in a previous article, but my mom always taught me that it's okay to struggle, because struggle teaches you strength. I might be struggling but I am learning to be stronger than I was before and that's all that I can do. Struggles aren't weak, they make you stronger. After all, if there was no rain, there'd be no flowers.