College. No matter how it's talked about, whether it's blown out of proportion or kept under wraps, it will always be a major turning point in your life. You leave your friends, your old school, most probably your old hobbies and for those who dorm, your hometown behind. But something that people never seem to talk about is how their family is behind. At college, when you talk to your peers, most of them seem to only talk about what they did in high school or what they want to do in college. No one really wants to talk about their family. I noticed that when I moved away to college, how I interact with my family members changed drastically.
The day I moved in, I bought a giant pack of Gogurt. You know, the yogurt that comes in those plastic tubes that you could just drink and throw away? Yeah, I bought a 16 pack of that. Once everything was all set up, and my dad left the room, I was like, "Screw it, I'm on my own, and I can do whatever the hell I want". So I ate eight tubes of Gogurt. While as funny as that story may be, it made something click. It made me realize I was really on my own. My mom wasn't going to scold me about eating eight tubes of Gogurt. In reality I could do whatever I want. The thing is, while I do have the freedom, any consequences would purely be my own fault. I couldn't pass the buck to someone simply because there was no one to pass it to.
However, I digress. Realizing that I could have the illusion of being totally autonomous caused me to cut myself off from my family. Not in a negative way, just in a way that I only contacted them when I needed to. They didn't know what was going on with me and frankly I was okay with that. After 18 years of having them constantly involved in my life, I was thankful for having what seemed like a breath of fresh air. While I did enjoy the independence the way I interacted with my family was drastically different. It seemed like it caused strain on them. I'm back now, and they literally have no idea what I've been doing. While I knew that college would have an effect on my relationship with my family, the last thing I would expect is strain. They've been in the dark about me for the entire school year, and then all of a sudden I'm home and they don't know what to talk with me about.
I guess what I'm trying to say with this article is that, sure, you're at college with no parental supervision, so knock yourself out. There's nothing wrong with that and that's the college experience. However, just shoot your parents a text or call them every once in awhile. And I mean excluding the times you need something. Just talk to them every once in awhile and let them know what's going on.
