According to the urban legend, junior year is the hardest year of high school. Taking multiple AP classes and studying for the SAT and ACT adds a lot of stress.
I don’t know if I necessarily found junior year of high school to be harder than the other three. However, the legend has rung true for my college years.
After the last nine months, I can say without any doubt, my junior year of college has been the most challenging of my time at Bradley.
It all started out before I even got to campus in the fall. I arrived for the first day of classes with a poison ivy rash on my arm and a walking boot on my foot. I had been battling the poison ivy for a couple weeks and was put in the walking boot after a running injury.
The fall semester didn’t get any easier when I began waking up in the middle of the night scratching my entire body. Yes, the entire house was infested with bed bugs.
After about a month of getting the house treated and sleeping on a friend’s couch, I was able to move back in.
It seemed as though my year was turning around after my 21st birthday in February. That was until I heard the six most painful words I have ever heard in my life.
“I think we should break up.”
Those words totally blindsided me and ended a three-year relationship. Just like that, the person I thought would be my high school sweetheart was gone forever.
The point of this column is not to drown on about how difficult my life is, because it isn’t. The goal of this column is to show as a result of the struggle, I grew as a person.
Thanks to the poison ivy and foot injury, I learned to always be careful when you are walking in the woods and to not run through an injury.
Thanks to the bed bugs, I now know how important it is to thoroughly read a lease before you sign it.
Thanks to my breakup, I have taken more time to focus on myself and do what makes me happy.
Most importantly, through the whole year, I learned the importance of never giving up, remaining positive and relying on those around you.
Looking back, I shockingly never even considered stopping what I was doing. The thought of giving up never even crossed my mind. If it wasn’t for all I am involved in, I would not have been able to stay sane with the other stress in my life.
I always tried my best to remain positive through all of the misfortune. A day did not go by where I did not think of any struggle going on in my life, but I always tried to appreciate what I have and hope it would get better.
Without my family and friends, I would not have made it through these difficult times. They were always there for me in those downs and the first to celebrate the ups.
I am thankful I made it through this past year. As evidence things always get better, I have received a dream internship this summer. I am looking forward to a summer of more ups than downs.
