Not all the opportunities that arise instantly fill you with joy. Sometimes, opportunities make you feel anxious, scared, and may even seem impossible. The funny thing about those opportunities, however, is that those are the ones that change you forever.

I have never been great at public speaking. I tense up, my face turns the color of a fresh tomato, and I somehow manage to develop a stutter and an interminable eye twitch. But when I was offered the chance to be the keynote speaker at my university’s International Women’s Day Colloquium, I couldn’t turn down the chance.

This speech is going to be one of the single most challenging moments of my life, but fulfilling this task is the opportunity of a lifetime. If it doesn’t challenge you, then it doesn’t change you, and I am at the point in my life where I am challenging myself to be open to change.

With graduating college in a few months and seeing everything that’s happening in the world around me, it’s more important now than ever before to choose to be a voice. I am choosing to share my voice–no matter how stuttered it will sound–to get the message across that this is the time to be bold. Regretting yesterday is no longer the answer and procrastinating until tomorrow is no longer the solution.

So, this Wednesday marks the first day of my embrace to change. From now on, no stone shall go unturned and no opportunity shall not be seized. Everyone says that any individual can change the world, but far too many forget to include themselves in that equation.

Bold is beautiful.

CLICK HERE for more info on the colloquium.