In my 24 years of living, I have been blessed enough to live in different countries and states, meet a variety of people, and experience things a lot of people my age haven’t been able to. In that I have been able to go through, and get through many different trying situations. For example, I went from being the best player on my team to having to work the hardest to even keep up. Every experience though, has toughened my skin and allowed me to come out a better person. This experience is no different. Although I am much more equipped to deal with unfamiliar situations, it doesn’t take away from the fact that things get hard sometimes. I have learned however, that in order to grow and learn, you have to become comfortable with being uncomfortable. In other words, you have to be willing to immerse yourself in a situation and embrace all that it entails. In that, it’s not beneficial to focus on leaving or counting down the days until you can go home, but it’s looking at each day as an opportunity to get better.
If someone goes through a test and properly prepares, they will likely come out with a good result. If they, on the other hand, approach the test and just do what they have to do to get by, chances are they will have to prepare harder next time, or they will have to repeat the test. That’s how I look at my time here. If I focus on learning the lessons and passing the tests set before me, I will be able to use that knowledge going forward rather than having to retake the test or cram to get though a situation at a later point in time.
Being comfortable with being uncomfortable doesn’t mean that I accept less than or I walk through life with my head held low. It instead means that I am ok with the learning process and I embrace it rather than run from it. I see every day as an opportunity to learn, and I take what I learn and apply it to my life in such a way that I won’t have to take the same test twice. Being uncomfortable means that I am getting better, and that’s the way I want to live my life- always getting better.
