I believe that everything happens for a reason. Although the reason behind the paths particular people walk through aren’t always known, the purpose behind each event in life ultimately tends to show itself.

Around ten months ago, I was finishing up the eighth grade, preparing myself for high school. Along with deciding what classes I would be taking, I had to make a decision of what would be best for me to do when I wasn’t at school. Since seventh grade dancing had been one of the very limited things in life that had the ability of making me feel like I had a true purpose on this Earth and was able to express myself in ways unthought of.

Being on a studio competitive dance team since that time, it was difficult to step away after money became tight, putting me in a very uneasy place of mind. I began to look into more I could do in the sense that soley dance classes weren’t enough for me. One night I came upon the dance team at a basketball game and although I didn’t know much of what would come from this in the moment just weeks later my entire life changed.

Two weeks after that basketball game I was at a clinic, preparing myself to show what I had learned in order to determine whether I would make one of my high school dance teams.

In the blink of an eye the audition had come and gone leaving me feeling like a new person with more experience and happiness that I had found something to possibly look forward to. Waiting to hear the results caused my heart to sit in my stomach, the same uneasy feeling occurring throughout my body. The moment I started to focus on this feeling the time had come; I had made the varsity team as a freshman.

Learning this news, my entire perspective began to shift and I began to work harder than I ever had in an attempt to prove that I deserved this position on the team. Since March, I have transformed into a completely different person, working harder than I would ever have imagined and setting goals thought to be impossible.

The season had taken off and I saw improvement within myself, excited to reveal everything I had become since March, ready to take the stage with full confidence.

Now, thinking back before the official start of the season, I would never have believed that I would be able to work as hard as I have and learn as much as I have and feel the way that I do after each performance. To say the least, going into this season I never thought about the effect my audience may have on me until my conifidence had become nonesxist, and it became difficult for me to love dance.

Loving dance seemed like something that would never fade and because of this just days ago I came to the conclusion that people can have opinions and that whatever someone may think is most definitely not always reality and doesn't have to make me feel like less of a person unless I let it.

Ultimately, I believe that everything happens for a reason and that throughout my journey on dance team, I have grown to be the person I am because of all I have went through and learned from. Yes, it is never easy to feel like hard work doesn’t mean anything but feeling something and being the definition of something are two completely diverse outlooks.