Isi J.
If you're reading this, trust yourself and don't let fear hold you back.
After graduating from high school, I felt completely lost. Suddenly, I was going weeks without seeing my friends and isolating myself in my room for hours every day. I had accomplished the ‘lifelong’ goal of completing high school, being told that the years that followed would be the best of my life. But in reality, I was depressed and didn’t know who I was anymore or what I was working for.
I began focusing my efforts on trying to make new friends at my university, but I found it harder than I thought I would. With all my classes being online, I rarely went onto campus and quickly found myself in a routine of spending hours alone at the computer doing schoolwork to keep up. Additionally, with the majority of uni students living at home like I was, I found that the social life I was looking forward to as an escape from the workload barely existed. I felt like something was wrong with me as all my friends seemed to be meeting people and loving life after high school.
This cycle continued for a year before I knew something had to change. I eventually landed on the idea of transferring to college in the United States, and it was only then that I started to feel like I had a purpose again. Having lived in Sydney, Australia, my whole life, my family and friends could not understand why I wanted to study on the other side of the world or how I would even get there. To be honest, neither did I, but my gut was telling me that it was the right thing to do. Trusting myself and my gut was the only thing that allowed me to persist through the constant doubt and anxiety.
It wasn’t until I was accepted to Syracuse University that I knew my hard work had paid off and I was going to be moving to another continent in only a few months. The overwhelming excitement was also paired with intense self-questioning about whether I had made a huge mistake, which continued even after I moved into my apartment and started the semester at SU. I was terrified of leaving all my friends and family to move somewhere I knew no one, but I knew I would regret letting my fear win and not going.
It is only now, a year later, that I can say with full certainty that I made the right decision. I have made so many amazing friends, met some incredible people, and am having the university experience I always wanted. It scares me to think that I could have missed out on something so great if I had let my fear hold me back and not trusted myself. It’s scary doing something outside of your comfort zone, no matter how small it may be. My advice is not to let fear stop you from achieving your goal, and to trust yourself, no matter how impossible it may seem or how many people (including yourself) may doubt you. If you’re reading this, you can do it.
Isi J., Syracuse University
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