It can be tough, but just hold on.

A month and a half ago, I started a new adventure. I started the next chapter of my life living in Morgantown, WV while going to college at West Virginia University. This was the first time I was living on my own, I was separated from friends and family that I spent either my whole life or years knowing and now I was thrown into the unknown told that I had to learn to take care of myself. If this doesn’t terrify you, than I don’t know what will.

The transition into college for me was a bit like a roller coaster ride with corkscrews and upside down loop-de-loops; basically, it wasn’t easy. There were times where I felt I was completely alone and no one was there for me or understood me, but there were also times when I felt on top of the world and felt pure joy. Being a mountaineer at WVU has changed my life for the better and I know that, but there are also the times where I question myself and if I belong.

I recently took an awesome retreat with my youth group on campus called Young Life. Young Life is an awesome organization that centers around engaging young people in an environment where they can grow in God while having the time of their life! I went on a retreat to Rockbridge, VA with the WVU Young Life, and I can tell you hands down that my life changed. For the first time in my college experience, I felt like I belonged somewhere. I felt that I was able to fit in and be myself without having anyone judge me, most importantly I felt loved.

I have also joined an amazing sorority called Pi Beta Phi. Pi Phi, which is what we like to call it, is my home away from home. These girls I met on Bid Day who at first were strangers to me are now my sisters! Sisterhood cannot be explained to anyone unless one experiences it for themselves, but I can tell you that having 150 some sisters is one of the best gifts that my God has ever blessed me with and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

With all these awesome opportunities at my hand, I have had some of the most amazing experiences in less than a month and a half at WVU. I also got to continue my passion of performing in an indoor guard called the Eloquence Performance Company. Sure things have not always gone the way I would have liked it to go. Sometimes I wish I could go out on dates, meet my best friend for the rest of my life, meet the love of my life, or even go to my favorite country, but the point is I don’t know my future. I live only in the present, but I love it because I get to live in the moment.

So I can encourage all of you to let go of your worries of the past or the future because they do not matter; you are living right now and that is a glorious gift! You are all amazing and loved and have this thing called life right in the palm of your hands just waiting to see what your next crazy adventure will be! It will be ok, all of it will be ok, because life is a roller coaster and we are along for the ride. So buckle your seat belts, hold on, and getting ready to scream and laugh while watching life go by!

With love and hope,

Julia

A Helping Hand

Two summers ago, I was going into my junior year of high school unsure of who I was. I knew I had a great group of friends and a lot of things to look forward to that year, but I couldn’t help the feeling that something was missing. I felt like I had this hole or gap in myself that I didn’t know how to fill. I tried praying and talking with friends and family, but nothing seemed to be working. I remember one of my friends telling me to simply just be myself and stay true to who I was. Little did I know this is exactly what I needed.

I had spent a huge amount of my life trying to please others and be someone who I wasn’t. I didn’t know what self love really was because I never really appreciated my true self until entering junior year. With my friends advice I was able to do some amazing things. One of them was finding my voice. I found my voice, and I was able to start to speak up about my story and exactly what it is I go through. I started out by telling my good group of friends and my one friend who gave me the best advice.

I remember I was starting to love myself for the first time in years, that is when I started to see an actual change in myself. I wasn’t as depressed anymore. People started to come to me and they really wanted to be around me. People saw me as a positive loving person and it was the true me. I would never have been able to become that person if it wasn’t for my one friend’s great advice.

Sometimes people don’t realize how one simple compliment or piece of advice can come a long way and change a person’s life. I had help with a helping hand, and it’s ok. I needed that hand to help pull me back to where I wanted to be. Now I am where I want to be. It’s all thanks to my helping hand.

So reach out and help pull someone up. Compliment them or give them a simple hello. But don’t be surprised when one day they are thanking you for changing their life.

With hope and love,
Julia

To my helping hand you know who you are:)