Student Blog: Valleys and Peaks

I have this process where every morning I go into my camera roll and search up the current date to try to delete photos I don’t find relevant anymore and/or reminisce on old photos I find to be endearing. I’ve done this since the beginning of my senior year and it’s been a really good thing for me (and my phone’s storage!) Although, sometimes I feel so strange looking at myself at this time last year. I was a senior in high school and now I’m in college 6 hours away from home and sometimes I miss it. I miss the old version of myself that was doing theatre on my high school stage and I miss it a little extra when I know my old high school opened their first show without me in it in the last 4 years. Sometimes I just have to take a breath and remind myself that this is where I am supposed to be now, and that is where I was supposed to be then. 

As people we are supposed to evolve, change, grow, and move on. If I stayed in the first semester of senior year I’d never grow as a singer, dancer, actor, or person like I have, and I truly have grown so much. College has challenged me as a performer and person and it’s only made me stronger in ways I’d never imagined. And sure, I could have stayed in senior year forever and been okay, but I never would have become the person I am today - not even a little bit. Besides, if I stayed there - none of my dreams would ever come true and I have so many. I have Pinterest boards filled with people I want to meet, places I want to go, shows I want to do, and careers I want to emulate. Some of those dreams have started to come true already which is exhilarating and the feeling that comes with it is utterly infectious. 

It’s not a perfect cycle and I can honestly say I’m not the same person I was a year ago. Although, I’m really grateful I can say that because staying the same has never taught me anything. I love evolving. I love learning new things. I love seeing parts of the world I haven’t ever seen before. I love changing. And yeah, change is scary. It’s SO scary! Moving from where you call home is terrifying, saying goodbye to your friends is terrifying, even changing your voice teacher is terrifying. It’s all quite scary, I must admit. Although, change is a necessary obstacle to growth. Once you get past that obstacle, you are ready for absolute monarch butterfly levels of beautiful growth and evolution. Someone very wise (my roommate) once told me, “What’s in between 2 mountains? A valley - your next peak is on the way” absolutely mind blowing, and I do believe a lot of times that valley is the change which is getting people ready for their next peak. Of course, this isn’t always the case, but I fully believe that when in a valley - the next peak is on the way! (Thank you for this great analogy, Wrigley). 

Alright, so the point of this blog wasn’t to be a TedTalk - I’ll leave that to the professionals -  but I just wanted to share that as people we are capable of so much and change doesn’t have to be all bad, instead, it can be preparing us for the next big thing in our lives. And yes, it is absolutely okay to miss old chapters in our lives (I miss them all the time!), but I think a reason I miss them so much is because I know they led me to where I am today. I am forever grateful for those memories and will continue to cherish them, but I am also valuing each peak now and feeling peace that in a valley there is likely another peak waiting for me if I just look up.