Life Is Change. Growth Is Optional.
Life Is Change. Growth Is Optional.
A year ago, my life looked completely different than it does today. That sounds dramatic, but the more I think about it, the more I realize it is true. A year ago, I was preparing to get married. I was working as an Operator I at the airport. RISE was not even an idea yet. Leaders of Today was growing, but it was still mostly centered around our conference, the M&M program, and the idea that we wanted to keep creating opportunities for students. I do not think I fully understood how much was about to change, not only in my own life, but in the life of Leaders of Today too.
I was talking about this with Allie, one of our board members, and it made the whole idea feel even more real. A year ago, Allie was unsure if she would ever be able to have children. She and her husband were getting excited about their adoption process. It was something she was carrying, praying through, and trying to understand. Today, she is eight days away from her due date to have her son. In one year, her life went from wondering if that door would ever open to preparing to walk through it in one of the biggest ways possible. That is not just a small life update. It is crazy how one year can change everything.
My life has changed too. Today, I am married to my wife. I am an Operations Coordinator at the airport. Leaders of Today is preparing for our second RISE Leadership Experience, and we are expanding the conference. My wife and I moved, and she has had two new jobs since this time last year. Some of those changes were exciting. Some were stressful. Some were planned. Some were not. Some felt like clear next steps, and others felt like trying to figure it out as we went. Which, if we are being honest, is probably most of adulthood.
And the strange part is that I already know this next year is going to bring even more change. A year from now, I will probably be a Coast Guardsman. I will probably be a college student. Leaders of Today will probably look different again, because it seems like every year we look up and realize we have become something a little different than what we were the year before. That is not a bad thing. In fact, I think it is usually a sign that we are paying attention. We are learning. We are adjusting. We are not just protecting what we have always done because it is comfortable. This year may be one of the biggest years of change Leaders of Today has ever had, and while that is exciting, it also means we have to be really intentional about who we are becoming in the middle of it.
There is a quote that was brought to me a while ago that says, “Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely.” I do not know if I fully appreciated it when I first heard it, but it has become one of those quotes that keeps getting more true the longer I live. Life really is constant change. You can fight it, ignore it, complain about it, pretend it is not happening, or try to control every single part of it, but life is still going to change. Sometimes it changes in ways that are beautiful, like getting married, becoming a parent, starting a new job, moving into a new home, or watching an idea turn into something real. Other times, it changes in ways that are annoying, expensive, inconvenient, and not at all inspirational, like having to get a new phone and a new car in the same week (which happened to me this year). Nobody puts that on their bingo card. Nobody writes, “This year, I hope several expensive things break at once so I can grow in patience and financial flexibility.” But sometimes that is exactly what happens.
The harder part about change is that it does not always ask for permission. Some of the changes I listed are things I knew were coming. I knew I was getting married. I know I am working toward the Coast Guard. I knew Leaders of Today was going to continue growing. I knew there were steps I wanted to take. Those changes still require adjustment, but at least you can somewhat prepare for them. The unexpected changes are harder because they show up without asking if you are ready. They interrupt your plans, your schedule, your budget, your emotions, and sometimes your confidence. Those are the moments where you find out whether you are actually growing or just saying you like growth when it sounds good in a quote.
That is why I think this idea matters so much for students. High school students are in one of the strangest seasons of life because everything around them is changing, even if they do not always realize it yet. Their friendships are changing. Their responsibilities are changing. Their plans are changing. Their confidence is changing. Their view of the world is changing. Some of them are preparing for college. Some are preparing to go straight into a job. Some are trying to figure out what they even want their future to look like. Some are carrying way more than people realize. And in the middle of all of that, they are expected to somehow become confident, responsible, thoughtful, capable people.
That is a lot.
This is one of the reasons RISE matters so much to me. RISE is not just about putting students in a room for three days and telling them leadership is important. They already know leadership is important. Most students have heard that a thousand times. What they need is a place where they can practice it. They need a place where they can think about who they are, what they value, what kind of impact they want to make, and how they respond when life does not go exactly the way they planned. They need a place where growth is not just talked about, but expected, encouraged, and practiced.
Because the truth is, college is change. Starting a job is change. Leaving the routines and people you have known for years is change. Having more freedom is change. Having more responsibility is change. Realizing that no one is going to chase you down and make you become the person you are capable of becoming is change. In every one of those seasons, students will have a choice. They can grow, or they can drift. They can step into the next season with confidence, or they can let fear make the decisions for them. They can learn how to speak up, or they can stay quiet because it feels safer. They can become intentional, or they can just let life happen to them.
I do not want students to just let life happen to them.
At RISE, we want students to understand that growth is a choice they can make before they feel ready. It is a choice to learn your values. It is a choice to build confidence. It is a choice to develop an entrepreneurial mindset, not just for starting a business, but for seeing problems and believing you can help solve them. It is a choice to speak up when you have something meaningful to say. It is a choice to look at your school, your neighborhood, your family, your team, or your community and believe that you can make it better. Growth is not always glamorous, and it is almost never comfortable, but it is always worth choosing.
That does not mean every student who comes to RISE will have their entire life figured out by the end of three days. I still do not have my entire life figured out. But what they can leave with is something just as important. They can leave with more confidence. They can leave with clearer values. They can leave with better questions. They can leave with a stronger belief that they are capable of leading now, not someday when they are older, louder, more polished, or more impressive on paper.
When I look back on the last year, I can see a lot of change. Marriage. Moving. A new role at the airport. RISE becoming real. Leaders of Today growing. My wife stepping into new jobs. Allie preparing to have a baby. Unexpected expenses. New plans. New responsibilities. New conversations. And I know that a year from now, I will probably be able to write another version of this blog and say the same thing again. Life looks different than it did a year ago.
The question is whether I will be able to say I grew.
That is the part that is not automatic. Time will pass either way. Life will change either way. Circumstances will shift either way. But growth requires something from us. It requires reflection. It requires humility. It requires courage. It requires us to look honestly at where we are and decide we are not done becoming who we are called to be.
That is what I want for myself. That is what I want for Leaders of Today. And that is what I want for every student who walks into RISE.
Life is change. Growth is optional.
Choose wisely.
Takeaways
Life can look completely different in one year.
A year may not feel like a long time when you are living it day by day, but when you stop and look back, it is amazing how much can change. Some changes are planned, some are unexpected, and some completely reshape the way you see your future.Change does not automatically mean growth.
You can go through new seasons, new challenges, new jobs, new schools, and new opportunities without actually growing from them. Growth happens when we reflect, learn, adjust, and choose to become better instead of just becoming busier.Students need to practice growth before life forces them to figure it out alone.
College, jobs, leadership roles, friendships, responsibilities, and adulthood all bring change. RISE gives students a place to build confidence, learn their values, speak up, and prepare for those changes with purpose.RISE is a chance to choose growth.
RISE is not a sit-and-listen leadership program. It is built to help students grow in confidence, develop an entrepreneurial mindset, and realize they can make an impact in their schools and communities right now.Applications are open for RISE.
The RISE Leadership Experience is August 5–7, 2026. Applications close June 14. Learn more and apply at leadersoftodayco.com.
Let’s choose growth today.
We believe that giving students, the leaders of today, the opportunity to serve and make an impact will create vision and entrepreneurship for a better tomorrow.
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