What's the point of all this if you're not going to let it change you?

I went off to college last year as a slightly nervous, average height, blonde-haired girl from New Jersey that's good at math and likes to write fiction and listen to crappy music. I started the year as a cheerleader, but thanks to an injury early on (I tore my ACL) I had to stop.

I could be angry at god or "the universe", angry that it happened, angry that I couldn't cheer anymore, angry that a girl fell on me, causing me to injure myself, angry that I'd have to get knee surgery for the 3rd time, angry that I was on crutches, angry that I was in pain, angry that I had to wear various stupid knee braces for 3 months, or angry that my social life was kind of ruined. It was just over a year ago that I got injured, and my outlook on it now is different than it was a few months ago, or even last fall before I had surgery.

When I first got hurt, I was upset, especially considering there were only a few weeks left before the homecoming pep rally where we'd perform a new routine. I was also upset that I was in pain; that really dragged me down, and made it harder to go out even once I was off crutches. Not to mention, although I still went to practice, I couldn't cheer anymore.

The beginning of this year was weird, knowing that I wouldn't be cheerleading again. I joke that I have a "no sports" policy now, seeing as sports don't tend to end well with me (I was alright as a cheerleader, but that caused me to tear my ACL; I could never run; and I could never do any sports involving hand-eye coordination, like soccer or basketball). The truth is my injury changed me. It's made me more cautious; even a year later, I'm still careful when walking on a slippery floor, and of course has made me more wary of sports.

At the beginning of this year, I was unsure what I'd do without cheerleading. At first, I had tons of free time. That was great and all, but I also felt like I needed to be more involved on campus. I started to get involved, and am now more involved in my sorority and I'm part of a concert-planning committee. I might not have done all of this if I was still in cheerleading.

I think there's a purpose to everything. I'm not sure why, but I feel like there is a lesson that can be learned from almost every situation. Even the events that stress us out, that we hate the most, that we feel are horrible and serve no purpose can change us. Sometimes things change us for the better- like the summer at fat camp when I learned about portion control- and sometimes things change us for the worse- like the aforementioned injury when I was overly cautious and scared of getting hurt again.

But even these events can have positive effects, too. My injury made me get involved in some other campus activities, and meet more people; and although it "destroyed" my social life at first, it eventually made me realize what kinds of things I actually like to do, and the people I really wanted to be with.

And to end this blog, I'll leave you, dear reader, with a question to think about: what's the point of all this- of school, of college, of being an athlete, of being in a sorority, of going to parties, of joining groups, of growing up, of living life- if you're not going to let it change you?

Things happen in life, and they can change you; and maybe that's the point of living life, after all.