It's all about perspective

If you haven't heard about #thedress yet, then get out from the rock you're living under. This picture of a striped dress took the internet by storm yesterday, causing millions of arguments all over the world. The people who saw blue and black were convinced that what they were seeing was the truth, and the people who were seeing white and gold felt the same. The frustration of not understanding how the other group of people saw those certain colors is the exact same frustration that people living with autism feel on a daily basis.

People with autism see things, hear things, taste things, smell things, and feel things differently. Their life experience is completely different than ours in many many ways. Each person that has autism experience different things, but usually, each have an extreme sensory issue of some kind. Some can't touch certain things due to how it feels to them, some can't be in loud places due to how sensitive they are to pitch. The list goes on and on. And every day, they are looked at as different, and less than those who don't have the same sensory experiences that they do. All because of how their bodies react to certain senses.

Now, think back on the dress scenario. What color you see is most likely different than what your best friend sees, or what your mom sees, or what your little brother sees. Does that mean that they are less of a person because of it? Weird because of it? Should be made fun of because of it? No! It simply means that they are having a different sensory perception than you are.

Think about how frustrated the entire world got in a couple of hours because of the different colors everyone was seeing. That is how people with autism feel every single day of their lives. Hopefully the next time you see a person with autism, you have a better understanding of what they are going through, and can use that perspective that you now have to educate people around you.

Comfortable is safe, but change is worth it.

Comfortable is safe.

I have had a very hard time the last few months letting go of what is comfortable. I, like most people, am not a fan of change. At all. Change in my schedule, change in food, change in clothes, change in weather (why do I live in Nebraska?), change in people. I hate it all. But I have particularly found that change in relationships are one of the hardest things to understand, and to deal with. Especially when it's one sided.

When you leave high school and go to college, you change as a person. And so does everyone who you went to school with. The distance makes keeping every single high school friendship impossible. But it makes the ones that do stick around SO much stronger. I have lost a lot of friends since last May. And that was hard for me at first. I was comfortable with those people. I knew them, they knew me, it was easy. And losing those friendships and going to a school where I had to make completely new ones with strangers, terrified me. But the friendships I have made since the beginning of the year are the friends that will be in my wedding. Stepping outside of my comfort zone led to those friendships, and it led to me becoming a stronger person.

Change is also scary when something happens that alters your entire mindset of the future. When a person does something that hurts you in a way that will never be fixed. That is scary. And I wanted to run to what was comfortable, what was easy. Run back to that relationship even though I knew it was not going to be good for either of us. Run back to what was comfortable, because the thought of starting over was terrifying.

Comfortable is safe.

Change is hard, and it is scary, and it is sad, and it is frustrating, but it is worth it. I have learned more about myself in the past few months than I ever have before. Realizing that what was broken couldn't ever be fixed and that I had to let go of the past was heart wrenching but liberating. I have become my own hero, and learned to love myself without the help of anyone else. I have stepped outside of my comfort zone so many times, and have had so many experiences that I wouldn't have had if I were to have ran back to what was comfortable. It has led me to be a person that I always wanted to become. A person not held back by any limitations. A person that does not need any validation to feel beautiful. And along the way of becoming a person I always wanted to be, I met some amazing people who have made me so so happy.

So when something happens that terrifies you, that forces you to make a change, that rips your heart out, just know that it gets better. SO much better. The end is not the end, even though it feels like it is. It's just a new beginning. Don't run back to what's comfortable just because it is the easiest thing for you to do at the time. Challenge yourself, step outside of your box, because it will lead to better things.

Comfortable is safe, but change is worth it.

I will never work a day in my life.

I have been blessed beyond measure with a passion. A passion that I am able to spend the rest of my life pursuing every single day...and calling it my "job". And that is why I will never work a day in my life.

Currently, I work every single day. I work at Camp Munroe, am a paraprofessional at Oakdale and nanny. All of those "jobs" have to do with working with people who have disabilities. My passion. I go to work every day and leave a better person than I was before. Most people go to work and leave being stressed out or in a bad mood. I leave work in a better mood than I was in before. I am SO lucky, and I wish other people understood that they could do this for themselves as well!

So many people go to college and major in something that they don't love just because it makes a lot of money, or just because it's easy, or just to simply get a degree. Believe me, I wish teachers made millions. Even like a hundred thousand would be nice! But they don't, and never will. And I'm okay with that. I would so much rather live life with a happy and full heart, doing what I love to do and becoming a better person, than live with an empty heart in a profession that makes a lot of money. Money makes life easier, but it does not make life happy. And I am all about happiness.

So find your happiness. Figure out what gets you excited, what gets you interested, what gets you passionate. And do something with it! I'm 19 years old and love working ridiculous hours a week because I don't consider it working. I'm changing lives, including my own, and what is more rewarding than that?

If there is one thing that I leave behind, let it be this: Find what makes your eyes light up, and never let it go. Stand up for what you believe in even if you're in a room full of people who are sitting down. I can't stress enough how important it is to find something that you love, because when you pour your heart into something, you have the ability to change so many lives.

Choose to not work a day in your life. Choose happiness.