Don't Be Sorry

                 People always say to me, "You are so lucky, you are always going somewhere" or "I'm so jealous, I wish I could travel all the time." What they often fail to realize is that I am no different from them. I am not one of those trust fund kids that bee-bops around the world on daddy's money and I'm not a super successful entrepreneur that gets to vacation for half of the year. I'm a nurse. While the pay is good and the scheduling is even better, that is not the reason why I am I always on the go. The difference between them and I is that I made a choice. I made the choice to never be sorry, and it is the best thing I have ever done. When I was in undergrad at USC (go gamecocks), I was in one of the most competitive nursing programs in the nation. They told us coming in as freshmen that there would be no time to work or our grades would suffer. I, unfortunately, was not one of the lucky ones that went to school during the day and had a full social calendar every night. I worked a full time job, a part time job and went to school full time. As you can imagine, this filled my college years with an excess of stress, a lack of sleep and an almost non-existent social life. My friends would go on trips and do fun things every weekend and there I was, riding the struggle bus. It was then that I decided that I would never be sorry. 

             Allow me to explain. I made the conscious decision that when it was all said and done and I graduated and became a nurse and had the time and the means, that I was going to create the life that I wanted and I was going to collect the rewards that all of my hard work would finally bring. No matter if it meant cleaning out my bank account or having to work extra shifts, I was going to fulfill my passion for traveling. I have student loans, I have a car payment, I have bills coming out of my ears. More importantly, I have watched a sunset on a beach in Australia, I've walked the halls of Dachau, I have seen the firework show behind Big Ben on New Year's Eve. The memories I have and the things I have experienced already in my 24 years of life are worth more than I could ever explain.                 

         When people tell me that I am lucky, I tell them that I am not. They can do and see all of the things that I have and will, they just have to make that decision. Make it a priority to go and see the world. Push yourself outside of your comfort zone and buy that plane ticket. Don't be sorry and you will be richer than you could ever imagine.