鶹Ʒ SI wish there was a way to know you’re in the good old days before you’ve actually left them. 鶹Ʒ S 鶹Ʒ S From the final episode of The Office television show.
Studies show that the most common fears among people are the fear of heights, snakes, enclosed spaces, and being in a social setting.

But there 鶹Ʒ Ss a fear even deeper than those that most people don 鶹Ʒ St even realize until it hits them.
And that is the fear of change.
We 鶹Ʒ Sve all experienced that in some form. It 鶹Ʒ Ss not like changes in the weather or even changes to our behavior. No, this change digs deeper because it is one we can 鶹Ʒ St stop even if we put our foot down, hoping that the friction will somehow slow it down.
No, the change I 鶹Ʒ Sm talking about is the change that our life 鶹Ʒ Ss phases bring, such as graduating or moving.
No matter what you do or don 鶹Ʒ St do, time is always ticking. It is certainly true that time waits for no one.
To help you understand more of where I 鶹Ʒ Sm coming from, think back to a time that you would classify as the 鶹Ʒ Sgood old days. 鶹Ʒ S It can be when you were in school, summer camp, road trips, the times when you and your friends used to hang out at your favorite spot when you were a kid.
One of mine may be the times at UCF when my track-and-field teammates and I often used water balloons to ambush the football players, who lived in the same residence halls as us.
Remember how you felt at your 鶹Ʒ Sgood old days. 鶹Ʒ S Happy. Fun. Content. Excited. You name it. Now tell me the exact day you stopped doing those things. You may not be able to, because those experiences often just slowly faded away on their own.
In reference to the quote above, a lot of time we find ourselves connected to those 鶹Ʒ Sgood old days 鶹Ʒ S thinking that this, the moment with friends, family or a significant other will last forever.
But usually it doesn 鶹Ʒ St.
Eventually that party ends, your friends evolve, and you 鶹Ʒ Sre left with the decision of 鶹Ʒ Sto be or not to be 鶹Ʒ S ready for what 鶹Ʒ Ss next, no matter the situation.
I remember plenty of times when I would transition to another grade level I felt like the world was ending.
What about my friends?
What was I supposed to do now?
I can 鶹Ʒ St grow up. It 鶹Ʒ Ss too soon, I 鶹Ʒ Sm not ready.
Take me back now!
I felt like I was the master of my own time, so how dare you, time?! Putting an expiration date on my good times and forcing me to remember it just as that, a 鶹Ʒ Sgood time. 鶹Ʒ S
But that 鶹Ʒ Ss the beauty of change, it forces you to get ready whether you like it or not, because there 鶹Ʒ Ss no time machine. So going back to relive those glory days is nonexistent.
So instead we make a decision to adjust to the changes happening to us, with resentment, of course — just to realize how much we 鶹Ʒ Sve grown or are growing in the process.
To this day, I still have mini fits when a friend starts a new job and moves away or even when a tradition starts to cease to exist, because I know that change is coming.
And that is what is happening to me now.
My days as a UCF student have concluded and I 鶹Ʒ Sm moving to Massachusetts. I 鶹Ʒ Sll soon be working on an NCAA grant to start a student-athlete welfare and development office at Wheaton College.
I 鶹Ʒ Sm super excited about what’s to come but definitely apprehensive about all the change that is happening in my life.
But as the philosopher Shakur, better known as Tupac, once said: That 鶹Ʒ Ss just the way it is 鶹Ʒ S things will never be the same.
So if you 鶹Ʒ Sre like me, even if you have to remind yourself, just know that change is good and change is needed.
Christal Peterson is a recent graduate of UCF 鶹Ʒ Ss DeVos Sport Business Management Program and was a member of the President 鶹Ʒ Ss Leadership Council. She can be reached at chhpeterson@knights.ucf.edu.