One year ago today, I got a text from one day services stating that I would be transitioning from utilizing their vans for transportation to utilizing the county shared-ride system the following week. Although it totally did not surprise me, it was one of the hardest changes that I had to digest because it had a lot of unknowns involved with it. But eventually it was one of the best things that could have happened to my daily routine.

When this was first talked about, I was extremely furious with the ones that were initiating the change without seeing the whole picture, thus focusing on the fact that it would not be good for a person such as myself who has anxiety and given its past bad reputation that it could be solvable for me, although I know it was working for others, including my own employer.

When the idea was tossed about, I wanted to quit my job and go around town dumpster diving or scouring for food to survive, which I knew was not good for my mental health. But knowing that my employer was using the same service and that if there was an issue, it would be addressed, I knew no matter what I had to at least try to work at using it before totally ruling it out.

Eventually, the time came to use it and while it may have been a little much to digest at first, it became more understandable and accepting as time went on. A lot of the issues that I had experienced in the past were no longer valid and even though for the whole year I held some sort of grudge against the change, I eventually learned that I needed to make peace with it.

Change can be hard, especially if it is to something like this that I have been experiencing for two decades, but as many things would be changing in the past year, change can be a good thing if you give them a chance to work out. They can be better than what you expect them to be. It had to take the right ingredients to allow them to work out in my favor. In fact, this change has allowed me to be more independent than I was in the past.

Sometimes, the right things must happen to make one’s quality of life better. It takes giving things a chance to work themselves out and seeing that they can be beneficial and make things better for you than you can imagine. You may not want to see or believe it in the beginning, but you must be the one that has to at least give it a chance, no matter how hard it can be and see that things can work themselves out in a good manner.

A year later since receiving that fateful text, I would never believe that I would feel so great about something that has forever been challenging and combative for me. I have seen that I can have more opportunities if I allow myself to take a chance on things instead of sticking in the same old rut.