Life is filled with so much to offer that most of us will never have the chance to experience. Once we find something we love, we focus only on that and nothing else. Our mind becomes tunnel visioned and we don’t expand it for anything else.

I have been a ballet dancer my entire life. I trained six days a week for about three to four hours a night. It took me to places like New York for a whole summer and to Chicago. I loved it and was always doing it, I began to miss out on certain things. Once I got to high school, it became harder for me to manage school and dance, I was exhausted all of the time and found myself missing a lot of practices because there were high school events that I did not want to miss out on.

At the end of my freshman year, I almost stopped dancing. However I knew I had come this far in my dance career and worked so hard that I couldn’t just stop, so I continued in to my sophomore year. About halfway through the year I realized I didn’t want to dance in college so I was just doing it for my own enjoyment. But spending more time at dance than anywhere else besides school was too much for it to just be for fun. I realized I wasn’t doing it for myself.

I dreaded going more and more everyday but I knew I couldn’t quit because this is what I’ve always done. I would lay in bed at night thinking about what else I would do with my time if I wasn’t dancing, and I couldn’t think of anything. That was the moment I realized I didn’t want to be so attached to dance that I couldn’t think of anything else to do with my life.

I felt trapped, like dancing was all I had. But, I knew I was so much more than that. I knew I had the ability to excel in other activities that I had never tried.

I realized I was doing it for other people. I loved the reaction I received from my peers or adults when I told them how much time I put into dance and how intense it is. They were so impressed and instantly gained a high respect for me. I felt honored to know people knew I was a hardworking and determined person without really even knowing me.

For the rest of that semester and summer it was a constant battle with myself whether to quit dance or not. Although I loved it, it was all I did with my life. I never had the option to do anything besides dance.

I was wasting my precious life on something I wasn’t truly passionate about After months of battling, I decided to take the risk. I didn’t know what not dancing everyday would bring me but I knew I would be happier. I didn’t have to keep doing something just because it was all I ever knew.

Months later, looking back on one of the biggest decisions of my life, I am happier than I have ever been and I have opened myself up to new things that I would never even think of. I still dance here and there, but I have more time for myself and other interests. `

Because I took a risk and decided not to be stuck in one place my whole life, I have grown as a person and learned that you are not obligated to do something just because you have done it for years and have put countless hours into it. It took me three years to finally realize you have the ability to change your life and do something different at any point.