14. Change

Over the span of my life I've accepted the idea that I do not like change. As a kid, I cried when my parents sold our family car and was distraught the first time we moved. It is hard for me when I must break out of my comfort zone and jump into unfamiliar territory without a choice. That being said, I've become such a stronger person through enduring change and being forced to adapt to new circumstances. I remember when our family moved from Highland, Utah to Boise. I was eleven. It destroyed my entire world. I distinctly remember being told at school that I would graduate from a high school named French Fry High. It sounds ridiculous now, but even that poking statement felt like a dagger through my young chest. For years I longed to return to Utah and escape where my family had ventured off to. It's amazing to see the change from then to how I feel now.



Boise is the place that taught me happiness can be spelled with only five letters. Each time I see or hear anything about Boise away from home, it connects with me. It is my home. Without the trials, people, or schooling I had done there, I would likely be far from the path I am walking now. Discovering my love for home in the Treasure Valley was the first time I understood change with a glow. It isn't something I necessarily like or freely choose, but change supplies me with something nothing else can: potential for growth. I've taken to heart the following phrase: You cannot grow inside of a comfort zone, and you cannot be comfortable in a growth zone.