Will I Ever Have a Stretch School?

When I applied for college, I was accepted everywhere. While to many that is an exciting accomplishment, to me it proved to complicate my life. I wanted to know my limits and push them further than I ever thought I could. I have given up very few times in my life. There was the moment I decided to "retire" from gymnastics, which I don't necessarily consider a time I gave up, but a moment in my life I will always question. There was the computer science course in college, in which I decided to not complete all the work and accept a B in the course. Again I don't even consider that giving up, because the professor was treating me differently than anyone else in the course. I know, excuses excuses.

What I am trying to get at is that moving to DC was supposed to be my "Stretch School", my biggest challenge, my Goliath., and well I have found that a city is a city. While DC offers experiences and scenes I have never encountered, it does not challenge me anymore than I would have been challenged had I chose to stay in the Midwest. The lesson I am learning is that no one else can challenge me in the way that I can challenge myself, so if I want to do something new and different and reach further than I ever have, I am going to have to be the one to do it. The only problem with this realization is that I have been so challenged by this move physically and emotionally that I don't know if I have the energy to work hard enough to challenge myself mentally and professionally. Do I settle in where I am, or drain myself of every ounce of my energy to try and reach for my "Stretch School"? And if I did reach and fight, will I ever be completely challenged creatively, mentally and professionally, or is the world so corporate that I will be delayed with piles of mind-numbing paperwork wherever I go?