The stress of tests on tests on tests is real.
If you think I am exaggerating, just a quick synopsis of one week in just one single class - I had a test this past Wednesday, I have another test this Monday and then a final on this next Wednesday. So yeah, in the span of one week, I have three exams for just one course. Ps- I am enrolled in more than one course.
So yes indeed, the stress of tests on tests on tests is real.
Challenging it may be, but there isn't anywhere else I'de rather be.
The other day as I was scrolling through pictures, I came across this one which was taken about a year ago.
A year ago, October was just beginning and I was halfway through one of the most challenging semesters of my entire college career, academic-wise. There were lessons I had just learned and was continuing to learn; it was the beginning of a two year span that would forever change me. I had no idea what the next year span of time would bring.
Now I look back on the days which have passed between the breaths taken as this picture was taken to the breaths I now take. It's crazy how much things have changed and yet, I am still the same soul residing in the same body.
The meaning behind my smile means just a little more; the emotion behind my tears are no less powerful. When you are unable to put weight on a lower extremity for an extended period of time, walking and dancing and even running become worth all the more to you. Smiling occurs more often, laughing becomes a priority, and enjoying life becomes second nature; that is, after you realize that all it takes is one mistake and things could be very different for you and your family.
Everyday should be taken advantage of, lived to the fullest.
Now being a senior in college, it makes more sense to me, the whole "life with no regrets" thing, but not in the way that most millennials now-a-days imply it. What if you do get in a car accident next week, next month, or even next year? What if something happens to you and you can no longer live your life the way you know it now? Grace was given to me and I was granted only a minor injury compared to what it could have been. However, an experience like mine does force you to ask you the question, "what if?" What if I died in my car accident? Although it is something that sounds horrid, it could have happened. There are so many experiences and challenges in life that I have yet to go through, such as graduate college and become a licensed RN, or get married and have children, or be my sister's matron-of-honor, or go back to Europe and explore with my sister, or jump out of an airplane with my best friend. As a senior in college, there are so many things I have passed up on that make the "college experience," like going to a football game with my friends, or getting involved in a club on campus.
I always thought I had to fit into the mold that was given to me, that there were certain things that I had to do to be me. On the contrary, I am creating who I am everyday, with the help of God. I do not need to fit into the "Elizabeth" mold, but rather, I am the mold. Of course, I have morals and standards that are apart of who I am; with those in my left hand, I can use my right hand to paint whatever picture of myself I want.
Those what if questions that I ask myself almost every other day since my accident are my motivation to live, to not just survive but to thrive.
What if something did happen to you? Are you ready to give up all you know now or are there things you still want to experience.
Then go and experience them.
