I Dare You to Move

I lay sprawled facedown on my bedroom floor, thinking to myself, “What if I just stopped breathing?” I was in a depression my freshman year of college—and no one knew about it, not my family, not my friends.

On the outside, everything seemed okay. I was getting good grades. I had been hired on the student newspaper staff. There was this really cute guy in my Intro to Education class who was interested in me, and I ended up dating later on. But on the inside, I was hurting.

I was still hauling around emotional garbage from stupid choices I had made in my teen years.

I was struggling with trying to lock down a career path—teaching, journalism, were these two fields the only options for me?

I was being pushed outside of my comfort zone, as I went from being one of the “top dogs” at my high school to just being another face in the crowd. I was struggling to find my place.

My group of friends went from spending practically every minute of our high school days together to only seeing each other occasionally as we crossed campus on the way to classes. I was struggling to hold things together.

I had hit a low point, but it was time to get up off the floor and move. The band Switchfoot plays a song that cuts to the heart—“I dare you to move, I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor….”

Life hurts. Life isn’t always comfortable. Life is messy. But that doesn’t mean we should give up or give in. It means that we should try all the harder to keep pushing forward…to keep searching for that dream inside of us that waits to be awakened—we all have one.

Today I feel more alive than I ever have in my life. Yes, the struggles still come, but now I am focused on something much bigger. I am living an incredible dream that I never could have thought up myself. As all the important things of my life weave together—the dream awakening inside of me, the creative energy I’m here to share, the people I love, the people I serve—a beautiful piece of art is emerging from the splattered, crazy mess of life.

Life hurt? Life uncomfortable? Life messy? You’re not alone…

I dare you to move…

Melissa
Editor
Chattanooga Teen Scene

*This selection is an editorial written for Chattanooga Teen Scene/November 2007 ©