College Admissions Essay: Explored My Life

At the age of 27, I had an epiphany; For my entire adult life, I had not been truly living. After careful consideration of solutions, seemingly endless nights of research, and thorough preparation, my decision was to uproot myself and move from Virginia to Colorado. In the three years that I lived there I learned many things about myself and my surroundings. I discovered the most beautiful and amazing nature scenes and had some exciting adventures. The daily sunshine and glorious views always brought a smile to my face and lifted my spirits. If I ever woke up not feeling great, all I had to do was take a step outside. There, my energy levels soared as I hiked my days away and enjoyed peace in the mountains, at the parks, and by the lakes and

At just below fifteen thousand feet, you can see five different states at once. Being above the cotton clouds, discovering areas of permafrost glistening in the golden sunlight, and feeling the tingling, almost magical, change in the air felt new each time I made the trip to the top. Taking in the wonders of all the diverse land from every angle, I would contemplate how I am simply just a speck on a spinning planet that’s covered in unexplored life. Realizing that just over any of those towering mountains and around every turn a whole new world existed was tremendous. My problems and worries that I carried to the mountaintop became so insignificant when I could see how much larger than my existence life actually was. From the very first time that I stepped to the edge, and for the first time in my life, I was inspired. I began to appreciate my surroundings and what could be beyond them, which prompted me to be active, go exploring, and capture the silent beauty by snapping my camera hundreds of times. Never before had I been a person to exercise or get out of bed early to catch a sunrise. You would not have caught me creeping my car along the road with my windows down so I could breathe in nature and get a moment longer to study the canvas surrounding me. Going for a walk would have been a dreaded task, but now I had become the enthusiast that kept pushing for just one more mile, or maybe two, because I wanted

Not only did I learn to deeply perceive nature in life, I learned to view people in a new light, to get to know them and embrace new adventures through friendships. I began speaking to people at work, in public gathering places, and in online groups from the area. Instead of doing everything alone, I had friends that wanted to show me new things and share their favorite local destinations. Most shockingly to me, my husband came from one of those friendships. We were both online wanting to know more people in Colorado Springs and struck up a conversation. He wanted to introduce me to his favorite Greek restaurant, which I kindly declined the offer a couple of times. My hesitation came from being new to having friends in general, but more so, in this situation, a friend I made on the internet. After a few weeks of talking over the things we enjoyed and would like to explore, I finally agreed to the dinner. That event turned into a five-hour dinner, much to the dismay of our server, and then a three-hour drive atop the mountains. We paused at times to drink in the crisp air and sparkling lights in the night. This soon became our favorite bonding activity. Many days we would hop in the car, pick a direction, blast the radio and drive. No matter which way the road took us, it was always magnificent. Just like the top of Pike’s Peak, this too felt brand new each day or night we took a