Adjusting to change is a very difficult challenge we all have to face. Whether we want to or not, it happens to everyone. This year, I had to face change many times. It started at the very beginning of the school year. I was on the field hockey team for the second year, but this time on varsity as captain. Now that might seem like a fun experience, but as a little sophomore, I felt a lot of pressure, especially since this year the coaches seemed to be a lot stricter. 

Throughout the season I felt as if myself and my fellow teammates were being treated poorly. I didn’t know how to feel about it. Freshman year I had such a blast. How could everything change so fast? That was the thought that consistently filled my mind throughout the season. I tried my hardest to make the best out of it. After all, I did make some pretty good friends on the team and I don’t think I could have gotten through it without them. 

This change made me realize that yeah, being on a sports team is fun, but you can’t enjoy it to its fullest potential if the environment is not comfortable. Change like this is hard. Believing that you found something you could go far in, just for your attitude to change towards it all because of a coach. Luckily, I play soccer, so letting go of this sport did not mean letting go in sports in general. In addition, the friendships I made through the sport will surely be ones I cherish forever. 

It is very important to make the best out of change that seems to be the hardest. A couple months after sophomore year began, I found out that my Grandma would be moving in the summer to Georgia to live with my cousins. This was a change I never expected. When I first got the news, I didn’t know how to feel. My Grandma has lived with us for the past 6+ years and I didn’t know how I was going to get through it. As her time to leave gets nearer and nearer, it continues to get harder and harder to process. Once again, the question continues to stir through my head. How could everything change so fast?

Like I learned in my field hockey season, it is important to surround yourself with people who make it easier for you and take your mind off of it. This has been a moral I’ve lived by forever, and will continue to live by. My friends constantly show up for me and are supportive with everything. Finding the group of people that gets me has made such a big impact on my life. They’ve made change a little easier and have taught me that we are all stronger than we think. Change may be inevitable, but how we deal with it is what matters the most.