A Constant Metamorphosis

While I believe many things, change is the thing that stands out to me, something that I cannot avoid and, therefore, must embrace. I believe in change. “It had been hard to make the transition from elementary school to middle school, especially when many of my friends went to different schools. I like my friends, I like my school, and I like my routine. I don’t want to leave … again.”

These thoughts have gone through my head many times and I have become familiar with them.

I have moved to seven different schools in seven years. I’ve been to 3 schools in Tucson, 1 in San Diego and 2 in Pittsburgh; that’s 4929 miles of travel. And to be honest, all that moving is rough and having to leave behind best friends is tough enough, but to do it six times really changes who you are. It wasn’t easy for me to pack up and leave everything familiar and trying to fit into a foreign environment. I often resented my parents and wondered why did this have to happen to me out of all people? Why did they have to accept that new job of theirs? Did my dad have to go to a new bank for that higher salary; and at my expense? It’s hard fitting into a place unknown to you and I am all too familiar with the feelings of anxiety and stress.

Some days it would would be crushing, it would feel like a boulder was on top of you, slowly crushing you till you weren’t able to even breathe. Some days I would be in bed trying to fall asleep wondering why? Over time I realized that sometimes change is for the better. I’ve become a different person; stronger, better, someone who can adapt to change, learn from it, and improve upon it. I feel like it has been a long journey one that has many hardships; sometimes you fall, but you have to pick yourself back up, and learn from what you’ve done, and most importantly improve.

Our life is sometimes like a pool. We all start out learning how to swim, but if you never learn to swim beyond the corner of the pool you can never get better. I noticed part of change is, you start appreciating what you have and what you have had more than ever. Moving around shown me life’s most important things. Like a rearview mirror, you can see better what matters and what doesn’t. You learn not to take for granted the people in your life right now, and how each place has its own value. Moving has never been easy, but it has always been eye-opening. Even when I felt I was lonely, even when every day brought a new challenge to overcome, I can see that I gained from each experience; it changed me, transformed me, and defines me.

There could never be butterflies without change, only caterpillars. The same is true for us too. Our lives are changing, a constant metamorphosis. When I look at myself I see no butterfly, but I do see the endless possibilities; I can learn and adapt in the face of change and when I leave the world, or at least the part I live in, it will be a little better off than when I arrived, changed… This I believe.

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