Coming home from college can be an exciting and also difficult time. For some, everything may be the exact same as when they left home. For others, however, it may be difficult to accept that while you were away living up gamedays out of town, things back home have inevitably changed.
Most people believe that change is good, and whether or not you are one of them, you will eventually have to accept that it's a part of life and that it's always going to exist. Nothing in life can ever stay the same forever, that's just a part of living, breathing, and being alive. It's an exciting, wonderful aspect of life, but at the same time, it can also be difficult to grapple with.
Maybe you came home from college and your parents have replaced you with a new family pet. Maybe they have redecorated your room and changed it into an art studio. Maybe your sibling has knocked down the wall between your two rooms and has placed a pool table right smack in the center. Maybe your parents have moved to a new house, in a new town, on a new street. Regardless of what the situation might be, chances are when you came home from college, you realized that things were not the same.
Possibly these changes were more subtle, just small things that you still noticed were different. The dynamics between family and friends has changed, somehow evolved without your presence. You are out of the loop, you don't know about the new pizza place that opened or the gossip at the local high school. You are no longer a part of that world, and yet you still feel like you are at the same time.
You have created a life for yourself at college with new friends, new surroundings, and new memories. Your home life will never be a part of that, and that's okay. It's normal and healthy to create a "new normal" for yourself where you feel comfortable. Along with that, you have to realize that back home, the people you left behind have created their own form of new normal, too.
Change is good. Sometimes it's hard, sometimes it's easy, maybe it's happy, sad, or complicated . No matter how you understand change, voluntary or not, I promise it is good. It may not seem that way at first, but it's something we can't control and therefore must accept with open arms. Challenges will arise in every day life that may seem daunting, but if you just roll with the punches, you will find yourself growing and changing. Change is beautiful because it allows you to constantly evolve and mature and eventually, you will find that you have changed into the very best version of yourself.
