One year changes my life

by Jennifer Conlee, co-assistant editor  

As I look back on the past year, I stop to reflect on the ways I have changed.

It was exactly a year ago that I quit going to the college group at church and started going to the singles group, becoming the only person under 22 (I was 19 at the time) to be part of the group.

I loved how they accepted me without question.  Those in their 40s soon became some of my closest confidants.

It was also a year ago that I started my job, at which I met one of the best friends I’ve had in years.  Our relationship has been rocky, as I go to school with her as well, and we see each other more than we see our own families. But we always get through the conflicts and come out on the other side laughing.

This friend has introduced me to a side of myself that I never new existed…I’ve gone out with her at night several times, and I have been introduced to clubs I never would have gone to otherwise. 

I used to be the type of person who was in bed by 10 p.m.  I never went out, but now I know that it’s not a bad thing to let out steam by dancing on the weekends.  I also learned from this friend and our circle of friends when to not open my mouth and share unmentionable secrets.

My job and my position on the school paper, have taught me responsibility that I never learned at home, in school, or elsewhere, and it has helped me to grow up a little.

The singles group has taught me that love has no age limits. Friends can exist within any group.

I am no longer the quiet, lonely person I used to be, and I have learned to stand up for myself in situations that I used to shrink from.

It’s amazing what a year can do in the life and personality of a person.