I learned more about myself in my fall senior semester in college than the first three years that I spent at the University of Georgia. Blame it on maturity, knowing I only have a year left in school, or certain personal life events, but I decided to live this semester for Hannah. It has been the best decision that I ever made and changed me for the better.
One of the best pieces of advice someone once gave me was to be selfish. It sounds awful at first but let me explain. My entire life I had lived to please others before myself. I gave up the real Hannah to be who people wanted Hannah to be. One day this last summer, I woke up and realized just how unhappy I was with my life and where it was going. It wasn't what I wanted for me. So I decided to finally take that piece of advice, and be selfish and chose to change my old ways to live for who I really was. Because in their own words: "If you don't live for yourself now, you'll never get the chance to do that again."
So I did just that. I finally grew out of self-conscious, shy, and non-confident high school Hannah and embraced life the way I had always wanted to. I drove through Atlanta for the first time (I had a real fear for interstates once upon a time), I spent a weekend in the mountains backpacking, I realized just how great my friends are, I went out and had fun, I learned to drink coffee black, and I didn't hesitate to take the chance to make myself happy. Those all sound like such small unimportant things, but one by one I was learning how fun life could be once I stepped out of the box I had trapped myself in. Ultimately that was the change this semester, I found my happiness in just being me and stopped underestimating myself.
As you can imagine, as a former change hater New Years was a holiday that I loathed. Now, not so much. The second half of 2014 turned out so well for me, that I have no reason to hate change anymore. In 2015 I get to graduate from the best university in the nation (yes I'm biased), move to Atlanta, start my business career with an incredible company, and whatever else God has planned for me.
2015 is the year of big change for me. I'm going to learn to love myself even more through treating my body like the temple that it is, further dedicating my life to and trusting in God's purpose for me, and saying yes to what makes me happy. So in the words of Taylor Swift, "I think I am finally clean." Here's to being perfectly and unapologetically happy with the person that you are.
Until Next Year,
Hannah
