Getting Ready

I've got a big move coming up in a couple of months. I'm going to Arizona for school, and while I'm extremely excited and looking forward to it, I'm also a bit tentative. I like to think of myself as someone who knows who they are and is also willing to take a risk to better himself. Lately, I realize how much I truly don't know.

Moving to Arizona is frightening. Aside from getting myself nearly $18k more in debt to educate myself, it will be the first time that I am truly on my own. I have never had an issue with making friends, and in fact I enjoy expanding my network of people, but there is one big question that I have no idea what the answer will be.

My entire life I have grown up in a wonderful Catholic family with parents that love God, each other, and their children. I am fortunate to have them for support whenever I need it in whatever capacity. When I was 9 years old, we joined a Lay Catholic Community. Through the youth group and community functions is where I formed most of my friendships, most of which are still alive and fruitful today. For college, I went to Franciscan University of Steubenville, which has arguably the best Catholic support system in place with their "Households". After college, I moved back to Cincinnati and picked up exactly where I left off, around Catholic friends and having a wonderful Catholic family to keep me in line.

Without an immediate support system in place to keep me on the straight and narrow, how will I fare? Is my Catholic faith strong enough to withstand the fact that I will be living alone and attending a secular school? There's only one way to find out.

I firmly believe that the experience gained from taking a year away to focus on my education and career in a field that motivates me can only be positive. I believe with all my heart that it will most likely be one of the toughest years of my life, but if Faith is not tested, then it's not true Faith. Ask any of the saints. I'm ready for the challenge.