CHANGE ISN'T EASY BUT DEFINING YOUR IDENTITY IS WORTHWHILE BY SAMMY HARRIS

Junior year second semester I got the big, fat boot from my inseparable girlfriend group of 10 years & counting, and I was suddenly left with two options : figure out who I actually was without the comfort of a popular reputation and social status, or crumble in the anxiety and loneliness that was eating me away.

It was a far from easy journey -- I definitely saw the most movies on Friday nights with my mom than I had ever before -- but I was finally starting to figure out my authentic self, versus the suffocating persona I had adopted for so long, and I slowly opened my eyes to divergence, independence, and change — words that were clearly foreign to me before.

I will take the hit to my high school GPA and many, MANY cry sessions on my bathroom floor any day for this to have happened when it did, right in time for Miami, where I had the opportunity to enter a new chapter of my life with a better understanding and confidence of who I was and who I wanted to be.

So who am I you may ask? I am Sammy not Samantha, and most of the time you will find me with these glasses, some yellow accessory, and something green that I am chomping on. Next week though I might be a little different (still Sammy though of course) because I constantly seek out change and divergence, thrive independently, strive to gain better understanding of myself which are all VERY far from easy.