Fear of the Unknown

I learned the definition of solicitude two months ago when I came across a video by a girl talking about what she learned about 2021.

 When the word solicitude is mentioned, most people think it means loneliness or sadness. I was one of them, but when you move to three different countries in less than four years, you learn one thing or more about the idea of being alone.

At first, of course, it can be a little sad to depart from your home and leave everything you already know, but it is more painful not to have the ability to cohabit with all the parts of yourself and to stay in the comfort of the things you already know.

 I do not want to directly unite the idea of leaving home with getting to know yourself, but this somehow makes you take this path and even obligates you.

 And do not get me wrong, accepting to know yourself hurts even when it sets you free because you also have to take all the little or big things you sometimes don’t love.

 When I decided to apply to study abroad in London because, in my degree, the exchange year is compulsory, I was filled with fear and back then, I did not want to do it, maybe because of fear, maybe because of comfort. Yes, I was worried, but now ten months later, I realize this is what I needed, and I do not regret it.

 Now, I realize that I will always be afraid, and fear will be my impulse and motivation; it will not go even when that’s all I desire. So all I can do is acknowledge what I feel, and that’s it’s the uncertainty of the path that I call life. So I have decided that I can live with fear, and would not make me stay paralyzed in those places of comfort. I can be more than that girl that remains in an area, fearing the unknown and not encouraging herself to achieve her potential.

To whoever is reading this, I hope you find the courage to use fear as an impulse and not as an anchor. Then, feel free to take the exit on the road of comfort, try all those crazy and not-so-crazy ideas you have and become the best version of yourself.

Maria Emilia Gandara Antunez, year 3, International Relations and Communications