It is official. I have “started over” a total of 3 times now. I really don’t mind it. In fact, I kind of enjoy it. I am looking forward to the move down to Orlando.

From the first time I moved into college, I realized that being put in a totally new situation allows me the opportunity to discover my true self. Who am I without my mother’s advice? What clothes do I buy without my best friend’s input? What activities do I enjoy outside of what my friends always want to do?

Since that initial move out of the house, I “started over” in London and Dallas. And I am about to move to Orlando. Each time, I was challenged to make new friends, find new favorite stores, discover new coffee shops, and keep myself busy! Now, I can look back and find the consistencies throughout my moves: I love being around people, I can always keep myself busy through photography and discovering new music, I laugh when I get caught in embarrassing situations, and I am nothing without Apple Maps.

By removing myself from the noise in different situations, I can discover who I am without being dependent on anything else. 

In London, I learned about my love for cultural diversity. This is something that I greatly missed when I lived in Dallas and at school. During my first year of college, I began to love Ben Rector’s music. After I moved away from Milledgeville, his music still stuck with me! Even without the traveling lifestyle that I had London and in Dallas, I still find myself looking at airfares on a daily basis.

So when you if you have the opportunity to move towns, or travel somewhere new, look at that opportunity as a way to finally meet yourself. From the inside out. 

While people in our lives help invent us, only true friends will be with us after new and unique life changes.

 

Keep moving fourward,

Ash