As I was driving back to Knoxville last weekend, I couldn't help but reflect on my life over the past couple years. In these past couple years, I have graduated high school, moved away from my hometown, started college, joined a sorority, and had to completely rebuild new friendships with people that I didn't know at all a year ago. It has been a lot of change for me, and there were times where I thought things wouldn't get better for me, but boy was I wrong.

I was driving back to Knoxville last weekend, and a song called "Midnight City" by M83 came on and it just got me thinking of how completely blessed I am. I was driving down the interstate going back to the place that I absolutely love. I had my sunglasses on, the windows down, the music turned up, and it was the perfect temperature outside.

I have gone through a lot of tough things in the past couple years. It's not anything that most graduating college seniors don't go through, but it was just a hard time in my life. Having to completely readjust to life from what I knew before was difficult and it put me way out of my comfort zone. However, now looking back at that time, I realized it was more than beneficial to me. Getting myself out of my comfort zone was one of the greatest things I could have done for myself at this age and I couldn't be more proud of myself for saying I accomplished that myself.

I can honestly say that I have never been as happy as I am now. I am the happiest I have ever been in my entire life. I have great, genuine friends that I have been searching for what seems like forever. Not just my sorority girls, but the small amount of friends that I do have in Murfreesboro now are girls that I know will always be there for me. I get along with my family now more than I ever have. I see my life in a whole different light and I look at things as an opportunity rather than a chore or a bother.

I went through a tough time that I honestly thought I would be stuck in for a while. However, I wish I could put into the right words how happy I am at this current point in time. Of course, I get stressed out with school or work, or whatever else I have going on, but overall I am genuinely happy.

I knew there was a lot of change going on for me at one time and I wasn't my normal self, but I never wanted to admit that I was "unhappy." Now that I have come to terms with how happy I am, I have no troubles admitting that I went through a difficult time. Once college started and I began making friends with the girls I have now, things got so much better for me. One major thing I noticed was that I am not a crier, like not an emotional person at all. Although, when it comes to my sorority and these girls, I seem to find myself bawling all the time because I am just so happy to be accepted and loved for genuine myself.

Finally being happy with everything that is going on in my life is something that is so valuable and special to me. I love the people in my life and I love the things currently happening. I know that with this outlook and this perspective of life I can do anything and I can go anywhere.

A word of advice to those of you that seem to be struggling finding your place and your happiness in life, just know it gets so much better. I never would have thought that I would be where I am now physically, mentally, and emotionally. I am a firm believer that life has a crazy way of working itself out. Once things do get better, if you keep that happy and positive mindset, you can be nothing but happy from then on.