2-24-12 (never posted this, oops!)

Growing up, I never had anything I was really good at. I always had to try harder than everyone else in school, I never had a favorite subject or natural athletic or artistic ability. I never felt special. Despite this, without even really realizing it, from a very young age I had ruled out any future occupation that includes a cubical, a pant suit, or a too well worn desk chair. I was always on my feet, never really having the patience for TV or video games. Back then, I never considered this something special, just different.
When I got to high school and everyone started planning their futures as lawyers or doctors or business men or teachers it seemed like everybody had something that made them special except for me. And that, combined with some other components is what landed me here. It was those days of uncertainty when I really started doubting myself. And with the doubting came the hating, and everything else that followed. But after dozens and dozens of babbling sessions, group meetings, and hilarious meditation videos, I had finally found what I had been looking for all along. More like it found me, I guess. To make it through I didn't need some special talent, I just had to stop repressing the person I truly am. Because that person has everything I need, not through natural ability, but through experience. I stopped feeling like a failure for having to try harder than anyone else because it was those experiences that forced me to become a hard working person in every aspect of my life, even the ones that come a little easier. I began living through these people that had rebuilt me and shown me my strength is caring for other people. Ironically my talent became being able to help and encourage those who are lost, like I was, being able to relate to experiences I had never been through because of the feelings they produce.
Today, people who don't really know me see me as that girl that's always doing schoolwork, always doing that extra little bit at practice. People who really know me know it's because I would never be where I am if it weren't for that discipline. I was blessed with something a little different than a lot of people. And for that, and for those experiences that brought me to this very dorm building, I am incredibly thankful .