I stress this often and can’t stress it enough, but my family is a part of my life that I would drop anything for. They come first above all else. Now, I do go to school 1,000 miles away from home, so I can see how some people may find that statement not true.

Let’s be real though: If I went to school anywhere remotely close to home, I would be home every weekend. I feel that as an adult, I need to branch out and put myself out there to become competent and responsible in order to be able to survive this dynamic world. Being so far away from home has taught me valuable lessons that I would have found difficult to seek out if I lived closer. I needed to get away from home in order to pursue a life that I could be fully in control of without relying on anyone else.

My family understands that I found it necessary to go to school so far away from home, and for that, I am so grateful. As a child, I found it hard to conform to change. I cried every day when my mom dropped me off at preschool and whenever I would sleepover a friends house. I was attached to my mom. Still today, I find it difficult to adjust to major life changes, which is another reason why I felt as though this move so far to go to school was necessary.

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For everyone, college is always going to be an adjustment more so for some people than others. Moving from a small town in New Jersey to a college town as big as Tuscaloosa was huge for me, however, recognizing that life is not simple, it is rather abstract, and being able to realize that not being open to change could be a problem down the road, I made the decision to move 1,000 miles away from home.

I’ve grown in ways I didn’t know were possible, I am more open to change, and I am, believe it or not, closer to my family than I ever was. As long as I have their continued support, I am OK and will continue to be OK.