Before the age of 27, I never once uttered to a single soul that I wanted to be a nurse. To be honest, the thought never even crossed my mind. So, when I said I was quitting “the best job ever” to go to nursing school, it came as a bit of a shock to a few many people.

The truth is, eighteen (or in my case, seventeen) is a really, really young age to decide what the hell you want to do with the rest of your life.

I mean, really. Don’t believe me? Look at things you posted on Facebook ten years ago and see how bad you feel about yourself.

Yeah, those kids are supposed to pick what they want to do for the next forty-something years and stick with it.

I’ve always heard the saying that people never change but I think that’s one-hundred percent false. I mean, I don’t believe a person can really change who they are at their core, but they do change. If we didn’t, I’d still be shopping at Abercrombie & Fitch (and thank the lord those days are gone).

So, what I’m saying is, it’s okay to realize that the career path you had chosen for yourself isn’t really what you want after all. And it’s okay to wake up next to the person you thought you were going to marry and realize they actually aren’t “the one” for you. And it’s even more okay to do something about those feelings instead of settling for them.

Is it scary to make a huge, life-altering change? Yes. But you know what’s scarier? Mediocrity.

Right before I resigned I had cold feet. And I’m talking, standing at the back of a church in a big white puffy dress hyperventilating into a paper bag kind of cold feet.

I was scared of so many things, I couldn’t even list them all on a pro/con list (because obviously I made a list, what kind of PR person do you think I was?).

What if I didn’t like it? What if I waste all my money? What if I’m not smart enough? What if I’m not good enough? What if I can’t hack it? What if I regret it?

All these questions plagued me, especially the last one. I would have given anything for someone to make the decision for me. But I knew I had to do it, so I put on my big girl pants (from J Crew, because that’s so much more mature) and jumped anyway. And now, the only thing that scares me is how close I was to not taking that leap at all.

Changing your mind, and even more – changing your life, builds character. It helps you become a new, better, different person. It’s how you lead the life you want and escape from being complacent.

I can’t promise that it will be easy but I can promise you that it will be worth it.

People always ask me if I miss my former life. And I do. I miss the city. I miss my co-workers. Most of all, I miss Tomato Cheddar soup from the Hale & Hearty a block away from my office.

But I don’t miss it in the way that I wish I never left. I miss it just enough. It’s the good kind of miss it. The kind that lets you know that what you had was worthwhile, but okay to say goodbye to.

And you really can’t ask for more than that.