I've been told many times by many people that I have "commitment issues."

And while I don't think that this is completely incorrect, I don't think that they're entirely correct with that label either.

There are so many people from my high school who will never leave the area we grew up in. While they may go away for college, I have seen far too many people return. And while they say they're not afraid to leave, they don't make any real effort to actually get up and move.

The same is true for a lot of my family members and close friends. My mom has been going to the same church since she was 18-years-old, the one that she joined when her parents moved to the area I grew up in after high school.

Whenever the topic comes up, she promises me and my brother that she will gladly open the house to us. She's even joked around about building an addition onto the house if she really needs to. At least, I hope she's kidding.

I know so many people who are going to college together. Although they may never see each other because of how big school campuses like Penn State are, I didn't want to be stuck on a campus with the possibility that I'd have people to run back to if my first day or week was too scary.

I didn't want the safety net of familiarity to hold me up if I decided that making new friends was too hard.

Instead, I chose to move to Long Island, New York. I chose a school where I don't know anyone and no one knows me. None of my roommates and I even grew up in the same state. While I consider myself an introvert at times, I've made so many friends already and I'm so psyched to be able to meet so many new people in my new home.

New experiences are exciting. It's part of the reason I'm so hyped up to go to college alone.

Just because I like change doesn't mean I have a problem with commitment. Once I find a place or person I think deserves a long-term spot in my life, I wouldn't be against staying at that place or with that person.

Don't confuse the need for change with an issue with commitment. They're two entirely different things, and I refuse to submit to that label. I refuse to think of it as something that I need to change.

After hearing it so many times from so many people, as an excuse they make as to why I'm leaving for a little bit while they're staying where they've been their entire lives, it's getting old. It's time to stop mixing them up.