One year ago, I did the most terrifying thing I have ever done. I moved to a new city without a plan.

I’m a planner. I always like knowing what I’m doing, especially when it comes to big life plans. When I was about to graduate from high school, I knew I was going to go to college and eventually get a job with my degree. I had a while to really figure out what I was going to do with my life. Eventually I graduated from Western Washington University and when I couldn’t get a job with my degree, I went to my fall-back job of serving. I got a great serving job and I kept saying “I’m only doing this to save money until I can move to a bigger city and find a journalism job” but a few years went by and I got comfortable.

I was at an easy job that made me good money. I lived in a relatively cheap city and I worked with all of my friends. Why would I ever leave that job? Simple. Because I was unhappy.

Last August I finally lost my marbles. I was absolutely miserable and tired of how mean customers could be and I didn’t feel like I was fulfilling my life dream. I had settled.

My roommate wanted to move to the Seattle area and wanted something bigger for the both of us. My roommate finally told me, I’m leaving with or without you. I couldn’t imagine not living with my best friend but we had a month to find a new place in a new city and a job. I had to make the decision because we could either renew our lease or not. We didn’t renew it.

We thankfully found a place in Kent after driving around for hours in the area, but that’s a story for another time. There was just the issue of finding a job. My roommate was able to transfer, but I couldn’t right away. I was prepared for this though. I had enough savings to keep me afloat for a while if I didn’t get a job right away. But the thought of spending money without replenishing it was absolutely terrifying.

I had 10 days between my lease ending in Bellingham and my new one starting in Kent. I was sitting at my brother’s house a few days before moving south and I thought to myself that at that very moment, I was technically homeless and absolutely jobless. All I wanted to do was cry. I had no plan.

I finally got two serving jobs a few weeks after moving. But I was in the same situation I was in when I left Bellingham. Except I was making less money, paying more in rent and had zero friends except for my roommate. I still felt helpless and wanted to run screaming back to Bellingham.

One day, about two months after I moved, my current coworker Sarah posted in the Facebook group for the journalism students from Western. People are always posting about jobs that are hiring and this one particular post was for the Covington-Maple Valley-Black Diamond Reporter. At that moment, I knew that if I didn’t at least apply for the job, I never would get into the industry. I would get stuck in my old life forever. Fast forward a week and I was hired.

I can say this has been the most eventful year of my life. And in the most amazing way. I got my first journalism job, I became a U.S. citizen and I grew so much as a person. I did something that absolutely terrified me and it was the best decision of my life.

Life can be so scary sometimes but I learned to not be afraid of the unknown.

For the most part.