Reflecting on Changes in My Life

Article in Brief: The author takes us through different changes in her life and how they were perceived across her life.

‘The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

In the very early phases of our lives, ‘change’ is a term that applies to things like classes, friends, or family. Change has been a part of every person’s life, but I noticed that its definition changes as time passes. To me, the earliest form of change was using a pen instead of a pencil for the first time in fourth grade. At this point it sounds silly, but looking back, that incident was a new stepping-stone in my journey.

In the past few years at school, change was a theme that continuously echoed throughout my literature classes. We read and recited poems about change and its impact on people all over the world. Teachers constantly placed challenges in our academic road to fully prepare us for the changes that will be coming towards us. During our senior year, we started having a preview of life’s coming attractions, or shall I say ‘changes’.

Last year, our biggest concern was our SAT scores, even though I personally didn’t wait on the edge of my seat for the results.  Being the reckless youth that we are, we laughed the moment the bell rang and we exited the classroom. We joked about how unsuccessful we’d be because of our less than mediocre transcripts and every teacher would roll their eyes at our naïve thoughts. We knew change was coming and that was the problem. Change was always something that resided in the future and it seems like the future came a little too quick.

Voltaire once said, ‘Life is a shipwreck but we must not forget to sing in our lifeboats.’ We stand here today, waiting for tomorrow, and all that it has in store for us. For as long as I could remember, I’ve always waited for the ‘next phase’ of my life to finally study something I am passionate about. I’ve let go of the place I’ve known and lived in for the past fourteen years, running head on towards the next chapter of my story. I don’t know where I’ll be in four years, or any year after that and that makes it all the more exciting. I don’t know where the road will take me at the end, but I definitely know where it starts. After all, we’re having a pretty good time in our life boats.