Change is a hard obstacle to overcome, especially at my age. Going through the stress of choosing a college, finding your friends and exploring your self-worth can be overwhelming, to say the least. On the contrary, you’re not alone! People your age all over the world are going through the same thing.

It’s a difficult time, and a lot of changes are happening. Sadly, there’s no way to slow any of them down, and the issue is coming to terms with reality that you’re about to end a huge chapter of your life. High school graduation is something that you’ve been working toward since kindergarten. From there is going to a good college and graduating with a degree in something that you’re in love with and can also be successful in. Thinking about all of that is extremely overwhelming.

In your junior and senior years of high school, you start to find who your real friends are —people to lean on at any time, no matter what the case may be. It took me almost three years to actually find a group of friends that I feel comfortable with — people I know that I could contact, no matter the situation. I couldn’t be more thankful to have all of them in my life now and hopefully forever. Alas, it’s all right to not have a solid group of friends in this moment. Something important is having at least one person outside of your family that you can lean on in times of trouble or distress, because they say if you graduate high school and have five friends that are dependable, you’re better off than most.

Finding yourself is something we’re all dying to do, dying just to understand. Often we fail to realize that it’s OK to not know all the answers, and I feel as if the search for a college is a time that a lot of self-discovery and realizations occur. You begin to realize what kind of people you want to surround yourself with and what kind of atmosphere you desire. This is the first drastic decision you get to make on your own and that can be scary. It’s OK to be scared, it’s OK to be unsure and it’s OK to not know what you want. The more places you visit, the more knowledge you gather, the more it helps you decide what you don’t want. After that, it becomes much easier. Take it from someone who still has little to no idea where they want to go, what they want, or what kind of future they want to have. All I know is what I don’t want.

College is going to be a gargantuan change. Yet, everyone says that college is when the most memories are made, good and bad. You learn more about yourself there than you will anywhere else, which gives you something to look forward to. Change is generally great! Change is the only thing that will ever be constant in our lives, and with that being said, it might be difficult for some people to wrap their heads around but it’s true. We just have to stop trying to control things we have no control over. Once we stop doing that, things will run a lot more smoothly.

As humans, we adapt to new habitats whether we really want to or not, therefore, there’s no real reason to be scared to start a new chapter of your life! Before you know it, you’ll adapt, and it’ll be normal to you.

Starting over can be challenging. I’ve moved all over, two different countries, three different states, yet I’ve never been more terrified to start over in my whole life. But deep down, I know I’ll do just fine.