Nobody Said it Would be Easy...

They just promised it would be worth it.
I think the sometimes the hardest things in life are the most "worth it."

But what does it mean for something to be... "worth it?" What qualifies? How do we know when something we're doing will be "worth it?"

I think it's something you can only see in hindsight. The nights you never forget. The days you fall over laughing about with your closest friends, even months or years later.
But those are the easy times, the easy choices, even the things that happen by chance. The nights that spring out of nowhere, but surprise you with how unforgettable they can be. The afternoons spent playing board games with your closest friends because you feel like it, and all your jokes, the ones only you guys laugh at just come pouring out in the craziest fits of laughter.

But what about the hard choices?
For me, going to college in Ithaca, New York from living most of my life in Northern California wasn't a hard choice. Staying was. My first semester was probably the hardest consecutive four months of my life. And then I had to go back. I seriously looked into transferring schools, going somewhere closer to home that was just as good for what I wanted to do (screenwriting). Choosing to stay though, that was one of the hardest decisions I've ever made. Because being there hadn't been easy, and there was no guarantee that staying would make anything any better.
But I did. I'm in my third year now, and it has been so worth it. I have a whole family of friends here, and an entire chapter of sisters, and I never would have gotten this close to any of them if I had left. It's one of the most "worth it" decisions of my life. Even if it was one of the hardest. Especially then.

Those hard choices, those ones we make because we can't imagine the alternative, when there is no way out but to choose, even if it kills us, it doesn't. We make a choice, we push forward, we keep calm and carry on. Because not choosing, that would really kill us. And no matter what we do choose, the process of choosing has made us think so deeply about what really lies in the depths of our heart, that even if you feel you had chosen wrong, there's no such thing. Your heart will always lead you home. I think believing that is one of the best ways to go through life.

Your Heart will always lead you Home...
   It makes Life so worth it.

Until next time,
Alissa