On Tuesday, April 27th, I took a risk. One of those risks you dream about taking, but never actually do. Before I get started though, I have to warn you I will not be telling you what risk I took, as it is very personal to me. Okay, so back to Tuesday: that morning my mom basically told me, ‘Emma, just do it.’ Now, this may seem like a simple statement, but coming from my mom, it shocked me because what I wanted to do seemed to be something she would never encourage. After that, I drove to school with the biggest smile on my face. The thing I wanted to do had finally been affirmed by my mother, so I knew I had to do it. Again, I’ll tell you that you will not, in fact, get to know what I wanted to do or what I did. So if you don’t have time to learn something from an experience you won’t get to know about: leave. So here I am driving to school, blasting my music, feeling absolutely on top of the world. I continued to feel that way all day because I knew what I had to do. I had a plan, a mission, a goal, and if I didn’t do it, I would regret it forever. I’m sure. 

Flash forward to that night: the time I would finally do what I planned to do. I went, I waited, I stood my ground, and I did. It was the most nerve-racking thing I’ve ever done in my life, but one that I will get to tell my children and grandchildren someday. 

I was inspired by my own grandmother to take a risk while I’m young because the only thing I’d sacrifice is a little bit of discomfort. I took a risk that night and I’m already having a grand ole time telling my story. My encouragement is to take a risk. Do the things you want to do. Do the right thing, but do the things you want to do. Because in the end, you’ll have memories that you’ll keep forever. You won’t remember the TikToks that you watched at 16 when you’re 80, but you will remember when you went to that game, that dance, kissed that boy, or told your friends you loved them. Life can be a movie, you just have to throw yourself into the fire of the unknown first.