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Growing up, my future ambitions ranged from aspiring to be a veterinarian to a Broadway actress. Although my ideas of what I would be when I grow up have altered, one underlying ideal has remained constant: I’ve always wanted to experience life outside of the Central Valley.

Home can vary in definition from person to person. My personal definition of home is not living in a permanent household, since I was given the nickname “gypsy” when I was younger for packing my Pocahontas suitcase and moving to a relative’s house whenever I felt restless.

I define home as a place that makes a person feel invigorated and welcome. I refer to the Central Valley as my home, living in Tulare before moving to Madera a couple of years ago. There’s a special feeling in a small town, a connection among the residents who are bonded by a shared understanding and respect. Growing up in a small town enabled me to inherit a strong work ethic and mutual reverence for those around me.

While I could never place a value on the years I spent in a small town, I’ve always dreamed of more. My yearning to experience what else is out there is one of the reasons I’m working toward earning a higher education.

Failing is a horrible deterrence, but not trying is even worse. One of my biggest fears is that I let apprehensions of worst case scenarios overtake my grandiose ambitions of what is possible. The unknown tends to fill people with uneasiness, as it is more reasonable to stay within one’s comfort zone than to explore uncharted territories. Yet, I feel if I never attempt to leave I will always resent not having enough tenacity to live up to my word.

A lot of people I grew up with are off at college, working toward a degree to begin a successful career and start a family while staying close to home. I have always felt inadequate because that has never been my future aspiration.

My family has played a big part in my desire to travel outside of our hometown. Two of the most important women in my life, my mother and my aunt, both had children before they finished high school. They were forced to push their dreams aside and work to provide the means to support their children. I was raised with the constant reminder that I was capable of paving a future with limitless possibilities.

For what I will always attribute to a wonderful upbringing, my mother and aunt incessantly told my cousins, siblings and me that we could dream outside of our small town and, with enough determination and self-confidence, achieve whatever we desired.

John Ed Pearce said, “Home is a place you grow up wanting to leave, and grow old wanting to get back to.”

So, who knows, I might leave and discover what I was looking for was not fulfilled by a new location. But I will always be left to wonder if I never go out and try.