Brave. Bold. You.

When I first started this blog, practically 4 months ago, I thought I would be writing about all of the chances I would start to take since it was my last semester at the University at Albany. I wanted to inspire boldness not only in my life, but in others as well.

However as the semester started, and we were a couple blog posts in, I started to realize that my definition of being bold was not what I thought it was going to be. Instead of writing about taking chances, I wrote about rebounding after disappointment, love, the importance of asking for help, my anxiety, my various thoughts and conclusions about my future, being vulnerable, and of course, self-love.  I had no idea I would write about all of these things, and yet, looking back, it completely makes sense.

A stranger could look at that list of topics I provided and say, “Well what does that have to do with being bold?”.

And to that stranger, my answer would be “Everything…to me.”

Without all of those topics and lessons I have learned over the semester, I wouldn’t be the me that I am today. And now, to me being bold has a lot more to do with being my best self -despite all the challenges are thrown my way. For example, asking for help when you’re afraid to, going on job interviews you don’t feel qualified for, facilitating panel discussions for the first time, declaring a new career path, applying to grad school in the middle of the semester, loving yourself without the fear of rejection, and even putting yourself out there on an online blog for the whole university to see.

But don’t get me wrong, these were not all the things that happened to me this semester, but fortunately, I was lucky to have the support of everyone from Project MyStory and my love of poetry to anchor me to my semester-long theme. Without  both of these supports, I do not know where this journey would have taken me.

And so, as this is my last post, I want to leave a couple of special messages behind:

To my readers:

While I know this blog was designed for me  to tell you all about my journey, I hope some of you have found comfort in it. Whether you feel you can identify with my definition of bold or not, if there’s anything I want you all to take away from this blog, is that you make sure to take time to get to know yourself and love yourself, inside and out. Through your strengths, your weaknesses, your good times, and your bad times. Just find something you love, whether it be poetry, music, playing basketball, or even family. Find that thing that calms you, and let that anchor you on your own journey to being brave, being bold, and being the best you possible.

To Project MyStory:

Thank you for allowing me to blog through your platform all semester. I thoroughly enjoyed learning from you all as well as learning from myself. And I encourage anyone who is interested in sharing their stories to reach out. This was by far one of the best academic experiences I could have had at the University at Albany.

And to everyone else:

Thank you. For without you, there would be no story to share at all.

“It feels right. But it’s emotional. Saying goodbye to anything you’ve done that long is hard” – Angela Ruggiero

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Please Note: The views of our student bloggers do not necessarily reflect the views of the UAlbany Advisement Services Center. These are their stories and their voices.

About the Author:

Brittany N.
Class of 2017
Major: English
Minors: Psychology and Education
Blog Theme:
Be Brave. Be Bold. Be You.