Changing schools is both exhilarating and terrifying. Regardless of what prompted the change in school, be it be moving cross country because of a parent's job, going to a private school a few towns over, or entering university from high school, the transition period in which a school doesn't quite feel as comfortable as it one day will be can be harrowing. Being the "new kid" is often associated with loneliness and a certain discomfort for daring to even be present. Being the "new kid" is often unflattering; it's marked by a deep longing for the familiar and the comfortable, and it can make the most inconsequential aspects of your previous daily routine suddenly seem charming. It artificially manufactures a very specific nostalgia for a past that might not have ever existed.

But being new to a school also instills a sort of courage. It takes courage to be able to introduce yourself to a room full of strangers. It takes courage to be comfortable with starting out as invisible in a sea of people who you'd never seen before. Going to a new school and persevering in spite of your relative anonymity grows your self-assurance because you know that no matter what situation you're thrown in, no matter how unnatural it initially feels, you can feel at ease.

The relative anonymity and complete lack of expectations of how you should act is and who you are by your peers are liberating. You can try to reinvent yourself and throw yourself into activities that you might not have ordinarily and maybe find a new passion in the process (or at the very least get a clearer idea of what makes you tick). Being new to a school means you can lower your inhibitions because you have no one to impress anymore. You might join the debate club in your new school even though you were made fun of for having a stutter in your old school or take a cooking class in your new school despite having been widely regarded as "water burner" in your old school, and you quickly realize how pointless it was to be so heavily influenced by the beliefs of others and develop self-assurance and begin to trust yourself more.

You wouldn't know the social dynamics of your new school off the bat and might talk to types of people you wouldn't have in your old school and broaden your worldview and learn not to necessarily trust your split second judgement of others. Further, you learn how to maintain lasting friendships when you keep in touch with friends from your old school; you learn that proximity isn't a prerequisite for lasting friendship and value the friends you have all the more.

Entering a new school is incredibly uncomfortable at first, but it's also wonderful because it forces you to push the boundaries of your comfort zone. It makes you really challenging who you are as a person, and urges you to find out yourself who you're meant to be.