Change and the start of school.

Change is the only constant in life. - Heraclitus 

This quote, often distributed to a more modern author instead of an ancient philosopher, has always been one of my favorite things to reflect upon.

No quote can more accurately describe this period of life, that moment of being a college student, and the slow shift into adulthood. I've realized this quite a bit this last week. I promise there won't be nearly as many posts about change coming soon, but it's been a particularly large part of my life lately.

It's my last week here in DC. One internship turned into two, and now seven months later I'm very ready to come home. This has been one of the most amazing times of my life. I uprooted myself and left within a week of learning that I had received my internship. I was excited, giddy, a tad nervous, and now that I look back, so so young. 

I constantly talk about growth, mainly because I can't believe I'm the same person that I was a year ago, heck I can't believe the person I was in January. And that is a beautiful thing. This is exactly what the period of being a young adult is. Constant change. Even when I thought I was ready for change, I now realize that before I truly wasn't ready.

I've never approached change with so much sheer excitement and acceptance. I put down roots quickly, I like having a home, I'm sure most people can understand that. However, it doesn't mean that I enjoy the change, the force of what is coming next. I would always get a little teary eyed when something was coming to an end, whether it be the end of a semester or leaving my first apartment. 

Now? I'm ready to go home, I'm ready to start this next chapter of my life. I look forward to figuring out what is going to be a very tumultuous period of my life. Not only have I grown here in this city, but I came to become myself, more myself than I'd had the bravery to ever be before. 

Why you may ask?

Because I was alone. In the best sense of that word. No one here knew me, and coming from Wyoming, which we joke is a city with looooong roads that stretch across the whole state. I wasn't my father's daughter, I wasn't the Judge's granddaughter. Even when I went to university, a chance to get away from my small town and be a number, someone knew my other grandfather. 

I love that about home.

But.

Everyone should have the ability to at some point in their life go somewhere where no one knows them. Somewhere where they are living alone. Somewhere where they have to rely on themselves, and truly find out that they have the ability to do anything they put their mind to.   

Because you can. You can tackle the world. I can tackle the world, and I learned that. And now I'm ready to take that new found knowledge and finally, finally accept the change that is coming my way. Because, change truly is the only constant thing in out lives, something mankind has known for thousands of years. 

A Better Busy

I don't know about you but anymore it seems like I'm always busy. Even when I'm not actually busy, I keep myself busy. Don't you?

It wasn't until recently, when I gained a little more time than I'm. Actually a lot more time than I'm used to. Taking internships in college is great, but it made me realize that when you don't have classes and homework you gain a whole lot more time. Now what do you do during that time? 

For a while it was the usual that I'd keep myself busy with when I had a some spare time. Get on Pinterest, Tumblr, watch Netflix, read a book. For a bit I was able to do some of my hobbies I'd been to busy to give any time to in the last year or so. I tried drawing and writing, but that didn't last long. I didn't seem to have the attention span for it to last that long.

It wasn't until recently when I had an exceptional amount of time that I realized I couldn't be doing that anymore. I realized that I wasn't getting anything out of my distractions, because that's what they were, distractions. I wasn't actually doing anything of worth. And honestly? When I have a spare minute whether in college or now over the summer I find my self reaching for my phone, reaching for a distraction. Why? I'm spending the summer in one of the most amazing cities in America and normally I live in a place I love surrounded by friends. And its not just me, my roommates, other interns, and friends. Everyone seems to constantly be on their phone, but I know as well as the next person that it's probably just buzzfeed. 

I know that other people have gone unplugged for a week and it's a great destresser, but with work that's not exactly possible. I also don't feel like I'm ready for that step, maybe later this summer or over Christmas break. So instead I'm challenging myself, and if you want to join me, you're more than welcome. 

This week when I have spare time I want to have a better busy. I want to be productive with my time. For me this means studying for my GRE, updating my resume, working on my cover letter, and more. For you this may mean something different but I'm going to try and quit distracting myself and actually be busy, with things I care about. Don't let yourself fall into the lethargy that I feel like consumed me recently. 

Have any of you felt like this recently? Or taken steps to stop it? 

Family

One thing I think we all need to remember that even when we are finally adults and on our own, our family is always there. However, they may not be there in the way we are used to, and that may be the most difficult thing of all. We are used to a certain way of acting, and then we hit adulthood and college, and life gets all topsy turvy on us. No longer living at home, trying to make our way in the world, yet when we come home we still have to respect our parents rules. It can be frustrating and we often wish to get far away from them or go back to the way it was when we were little. I especially miss being five, it was a blast!

My relationship with my mom got a whole lot better, my relationship with my dad basically didn't change. He expected more of me, but not unreasonably so. Which is really amazing for a guy who got thrown out of the house after graduating high school. I know that I can always come home, however it won't always be like that and after college if I ever want to do that I will be paying rent.

What I realized when I went to college, was that my parents did this! They moved out went to school and learned to live in the world all on their own, and they have had great experiences and know a few things. They were plenty happy to tell me that. I learned so much about my parents in the last year, its like they are different people. They have the best advice and understand what we are going through.

So while its not always easy to go through things, I just hope you remember that your family is always there to fall back on. They've been there the whole time and they want to go through this phase of your life with you as well. We often take parents and grandparents for granted, but they won't always be there and life is to short to waste time holding a grudge.

I have seen more of my Uncle and his family than I had in the last 5 years, and I only lived about 45 minutes away from them. Seeing his family and realizing how much I missed them was hard. I now have my aunts number and my cousin's number and we are planning on getting together and going sledding when I am back for Christmas break.

Cherish the last few days with family before we go back!

-WyoBelle