The New Me--Kylie

I do not believe in the phrase “I’m scared of the unknown” I live in a society of people
who do not reach for their dreams or do what they truly want in life because it scares them. They live in discomfort, and fear taking chances because of unknown consequences either good or bad. Because of this I do not approach life in a way to be fearful but to live life as a learning opportunity, and to understand what living means. Towards the end of my sophomore year, I had an epiphany. I had gotten in my mother’s car after a practice of mine and saw the distress written amongst her face. I got this hit of realization when I found out my dad lost his job and my mother was panicked, he was the only source of income in my household. My mother told me she was scared and was unsure of what would happen to us. As soon as she told me this, I realized we need to look at the bright side of things, be optimistic so to say, and this was that maybe his job was not the best for him and he should move on to bigger and bighter things. So he did and within two months he had a job, with more opportunities; being closer to our house so I saw him more and being given higher pay. This put into a perspective that bad things happen but you accept that and not fear it. You go with the punches and rise after the downfall. After this moment of my life, I said to myself “you need to do the things that scare you most in life so that when something like this occurs, you can overcome it.'' 

And so I began this journey. Towards the end of my junior year, I realized I lost a sense of who I was. I realized I was not the confident, spontaneous Kylie anymore. I needed to change this, and so I did. I was in the marching arts program at my high school and was playing and marching a clarinet, but it was not how it used to be. I always had something new to look

forward to and lost track of time, but it became monotonous; taking a toll on my behavior and affected the people who were around me. So because of this inclination, I decided it was time for a change. The idea of change had scared me but what I feared more was knowing that I was becoming a worse person and not doing anything about it. So I made this change although it took the time, countless hours of pushing myself and exceeding expectations, I accomplished it. When I changed I went from something I had known for almost a decade into something I had no idea about. The unknown part about this switch was what truly scared me, but I did not let it affect me. The switch from band to Colorguard was tedious and hard work. That of which I had to practice some of the same things like tosses and catches every day, but I learned and I became outstanding at it. And for that, I’m so grateful for Colorguard. This change that scared me led me to a greater direction. I found everlasting friends, gained the confidence I needed back, and most importantly became not the same Kylie I was before but a better one, the one who did not feel undermined and angered at what was becoming of her. But one that would sacrifice her life for a new opportunity that would lead to unknowingly brighter horizons. I found myself not to fear the unknown but to be happy to take risks and face them head-on, possibly knowing they would lead my life in a greater direction.