Home is like a little bubble. It’s safe, and quiet, and to your liking. You’ve grown up there, made many memories, and have all your markings there. The same goes to your hometown, it’s a place where you’ve grown up, left your mark, and it makes you feel comfortable. Yet, a bubble of safety can also serve as a cage. It traps you in and even though the door is left wide open, you don’t want to leave that oasis of serenity.

You spend your whole life in one town. You meet people in pre-school and know them all the way up to your senior year of high school. You befriend them, make enemies, date them, break-up, and more. You graduate, go to community college, get a job, find someone, marry them, settle down in said town, have kids, and then said kids will walk amongst your footsteps. It’s a never-ending cycle that while fine, doesn’t allow you to truly grow in life.

What can we do to stop it?

College.

College is truly the time to grow and experience life to the fullest. To leave the nest and go on your own. Even if the University is just thirty minutes away (like mine), just leaving home and creating a life on campus and meeting new people is vital to those years.

In my two years at a University I have met so many wonderful people, made countless trips to California, Utah, Idaho, places within Arizona, and even New York. I learned that I am actually a pretty good chef, hate it when people play loud music in the mornings, and that anything can be solved with a quick facetime call with your dog.

I’ve also made mistakes, skipped classes oh-too many times, locked my keys in my car twice, took a lot of naps, almost burnt the apartment down because I forgot I was boiling an egg, met people who I didn’t entirely enjoy, and spent a year at a job that I absolutely loathed.

All of these experiences have made me who I am today. I now have an extensive recipe book, figured out how to balance my money between fun, groceries, and gas, and seen the wild, Alaskan mountains, to the New York skyline.

My home is no longer restricted to the tiny town I grew up in. In fact, the world is my oyster and when I look out into it I see opportunities and adventure. So when I graduate, who knows where I’ll be. Writing a book in London? Marrying a prince in Norway? Shopping in New York? Settling down in Montana?

You need to go out there. Make a name for yourself. Find out if you like the warm climate of Arizona or the cold weather of Alaska. Do you like flying? Any crazy flight stories? Have you ever seen the Grand Canyon in every type of season there is? Watched a sunset on the beach of California? Disregarded classes and went on a last-minute trip?

Those are the questions you need to answer in those four important years. Whether it’s by leaving your town, state, or country for college, visiting a friend, or just booking a flight somewhere on the map.

I acknowledge that I have been granted great parents who put their children first and make sure that I leave the nest and get out into the world. I understand that not many people may have those same opportunities. But if you find yourself with one in front of you, don’t let it pass you by. Even if you’re scared and alone, just go out and experience the world. You’ll never know what things lie ahead of you, outside your hometown if you don’t leave.

Living in a bubble is boring and repetitive. There are other things out there. Weird, crazy, and unimaginable experiences that are just calling to you.

Will you answer?