I have this habit of making every place my home.

I don't mean in the sense that I show up, eat your food, and make a mess, but I do mean that I always find a way to be happy wherever I am. I go to school in dusty Lubbock, Texas. The closest thing for miles is a cotton field, and more often than not, that weird smell is a feed lot. All of this sounds pretty depressing, but that's not really the case. Somehow I've managed to make Texas Tech my home. I know I speak for a lot of other students when I say this, but Texas Tech just kind of works its way into your heart. I could go on about the adaptability of people my age, or try to sell you on the social scene, but in all honesty, I made a choice.

I chose to be happy where I was.

It's easy to be so far in your head that you forget that life is happening all around you. It's a lesson I had to learn the hard way my sophomore year of college. It took a lot of soul searching, and I blamed Texas Tech. I blamed it on the weather, I blamed it on the isolated nature of west Texas, I blamed it on school for being too difficult, and anything else you could think of. That thinking was the mark of a poorly adjusted child. It was everyone's fault but my own that I was unhappy. The thing is, I was stuck in this negative headspace and people could sense it. I had lost my way, and was trying to pick up the pieces. Damage had been done, but instead of finding my strength, I chose to wallow in it.

And for whatever reason, one day I just woke up.

Maybe God spoke to me, maybe I just got sick of being who I had let myself become. She was less of a person and more of a ghost, and life was just passing her by. No matter what, I'm so immensely proud of that day. I picked myself up, dusted myself off, and decided it was time to work. I had left Texas Tech in the middle of my fall semester and people thought I had flunked out, which I don't blame them for. I left because my head was up my ass not in the best place. I went back because I had more work left to do, a score to settle. I woke up, ordered transcripts, applied for readmission to Texas Tech, and waited for my acceptance so I could sign up for recruitment. By the grace of God, I made it just 2 minutes shy of a midnight deadline. Then 2 weeks later I was in the car on my way to Lubbock, Texas, with a brand new kitten and a give 'em hell attitude. The fall semester that followed was a hard one, but it's one that I am so immensely proud of.

There are many things that a person could gather from this story, but the main one is this: you're only as miserable as you make yourself. It's not the fault of a person, place, thing, or anything else. It's on you. Do the thing that makes your heart feel fuller and gives life to those around you. It's there that you will find your peace, your home.