I've been home for winter break for almost a month, and I'm starting to get a little stir crazy. I'm ready to be back at college with all of my friends despite how busy I'm going to be. Though my time home was filled with seeing family and relaxing, I function well when I'm busy. I've learned that I'd rather be busy than bored. While it is nice to sit on the couch and binge-watch an entire Netflix series every once in a while, it's not totally fulfilling, and I eventually became tired of it. I am so blessed that I have loving parents and a house to come home to, but I know I can't stay here forever.

There's nothing wrong with going home, including for extended periods of time. Even if a person chooses to live with their parents or their childhood hometown, it's okay. If that's the case, travel if possible. See the world, because, trust me, there is so much more to the world than the same twenty people you graduated high school with.

The thing most of us like about home is the comfort that comes with it. We're familiar with it, it's what we know. It's important to hang on to some aspects of our pasts. In fact, I encourage others to claim their roots and be proud of them. So often I see people that claim they're from one area when they're actually from another. Sometimes, I even see people dissing where they're from, and I personally hate seeing it. If it weren't for our hometowns, we wouldn't be the people we are today. I genuinely believe that. If I grew up in a different area, I'd be a completely different person. I am proud of my hometown, proud of my family, and proud of my heritage. It actually upsets me to see people I graduated with failing to claim their roots. I always tell people where I'm truly from when asked.

That being said, I've outgrown my town. I love it, but I don't know if I see myself living here after I graduate college. Of course, I can always come back home to visit. I totally plan to because a lot of my family lives here. But I want to see the world, experience things outside of this bubble I've grown comfortable in— maybe even move somewhere warmer with more sunlight. I want to be able to tell stories about the crazy things I see or go through. I want to visit my cousins who live all over the country. I want to travel outside of the country. I want more than what my origins have to offer. It will always be a safe space for me, filled with love and memories, but it's time for me to move on.

I may be ready to broaden my horizons, but I will never forget my roots and will always be proud of where I came from.