As in the eight months, I have endured many changes to my life as I had known it for many years and embraced them. There is also a part of me that realizes that even though I have grown in that brief time, it has begun to open the door to being able to pursue new opportunities that I would have not otherwise have been able to pursue.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of me graduating from High School and through the advice of my therapist and my family, I was advised to attend what the day services that I have been in except for the one year that went to vocational training. Honestly, until necessary changes had to be made as far as transportation last December, it is what has deeply grounded me and made me afraid to move on from there because transportation was done in house, thus for most of the past two decades proving the security blanket that I needed to have.

Within the level of care that my day service follows, there is the intention that individuals that attend are discharged if they complete all their goals at their choosing. In those two decades, I have conquered everything that I could do to live the independence I need to have,

But there is the reality that isolation is not my best friend and that I need to take the steps necessary to fill that void. That can come in the form of volunteering or working more, or even a combination of both. This is something that I need to work out for myself and other that are helping me in this process and while this could have previously been very difficult because of not having the transportation situation under control, there is much comfort in knowing that piece of my life is more secure than what I believed about it in the past.

Indeed, there is anxiety about exploring new opportunities, but there is also the reality that I have been doing some other things that I may not have done over the past years have initially driven anxiety within myself and after breaking down those initial barriers, in most cases have been very successful for me and were at times the things I have needed to be more independent in life.

It will indeed be hard to move on from what I have known all my adult life, but sometimes change is good as I have learned and seen repeatedly. I must let myself be open to moving forward into the next chapter of my life and dare to pursue my dreams as the sky is the limit.