Well… It’s been quite a while since I last posted on this website. My absence has spanned four months, during which I have had many different trials and tribulations. My summer was quite interesting. My family and I decided to do some yard work, and we ended up planting eleven different trees, hundreds of flowers, a vegetable garden, and general landscaping as well. In addition, we painted our deck, which now looks stunning as it is a mix of red and brown, instead of the dull grey it was before. I also took a few trips to many different places, including Radium, Invermere, and Montana. In general, it was a pretty good summer.

However, the highlight of this summer vacation came at its end, with the start of my university career. Lost in thought a few days ago, I realized something interesting; the older we get, the more terrifying the process of making new friends becomes. Back when we were in kindergarten (oh so long ago), we were scared about being separated from our parents for those few hours of the day. For most people, the children that they met in kindergarten were the same ones that they graduated from high school with. But alas, that’s not the case with me. Until the beginning of junior high, I was changing schools after two years in each one, give or take a few months. As such, I became accustomed to finding new friends quite easily. At the beginning of junior high, I knew absolutely no one, yet I still managed to create friendships that I am sure will last me for many more years to come. Once high school started, I began to get nervous, as I’m sure most people would. Suddenly, we were taken from a comfortable environment with roughly 600 people, and thrust into an arena packed with over a thousand students. It is here, in this place, that we find the people with whom our friendships may last a lifetime. It is here that the true drama of life begins, as bonds are made and broken, hearts are brought together or torn apart, and where futures are created or destroyed. It is in high school that you learn about your own person, either through the compliments of others, or their criticisms. Mistakes are an essential part of high school life, because they help us become stronger individuals at a time when we are made to question our beliefs about ourselves.

Then comes university. If high school is an arena, then university is a veritable hellhole. Full of thousands of people, it seems absolutely impossible to make any new connections. You stick with your friends from high school, until you get separated by your timetable. Now you have a choice to make. Do you stride boldly into your classroom, and begin to create these bonds? Or do you enter meekly, sit in a corner, scribble down your notes, and then leave? If you do the former, you are off to a great start. I realize that I might be saying this too early, as my own university career has barely started, but I feel that I need to motivate others, as well as myself, to become more extrovert, and to create completely new friend circles than the ones they have had in the past.

Life is too short to have regrets. We, as a species, need to understand this fact. Our lives could last for another 90 years, or another 90 seconds; we have no way of knowing. Enjoy it right now, but ensure that you are making the right decisions for your future, so you can continue to enjoy once you are much older. Don’t throw away friendships because of mistakes that someone has made in the past. You never know who you might be working with later on in your career.

Put the past behind you. Live in the present, and plan for your future.