I don’t measure my worth by how many likes my photos can get, or how many people know my name, or how many scholarship offers I can get, or how many friends I have. There are times when I get caught up on how things could have been for me if I’d operated a little differently. If I’d pushed myself a little more I could have gotten a better Algebra grade. If I’d focused a little more I could have gotten a better role in the play. If I’d worked a little harder I could have been a better editor. It might be true, but I no longer have any control over the past and there’s no way of knowing how it will affect the future. I guess most important lesson I’ve learned as I’ve dealt with this feeling of what-if is just to let myself be. I shouldn’t have to distort who I am to meet people’s expectations, even my own. This isn’t to say that I shouldn’t push myself for improvement, but I also shouldn’t constrain myself to be something I’m not. Change is good. Change is natural. Life changes, and it forces us to change with it. How we adjust to it is up to us. We can become bitter and grieve over what could have been. But we can also choose to keep going, knowing that every step forward is a step towards growth, even if it isn’t in the direction we might have