One day, the need to find a soul mate will disappear, the desire to keep in contact with those people who never seem to ask how you’re doing first disappears, and the next thing you know your family has become the backbone of your life. These disappearances in life are what growing up is all about. When you suddenly have the epiphany and think, “Wow, so this is what it’s really like to grow the heck up.”

The idea that you need a boyfriend or girlfriend to complete your world is a thought that makes you roll your eyes and cringe. You’re at the point in life where you’ve been there and done that and you’ve learned to kill it on your own. Being independent is empowering, and the thought of needing another person to support you and share every experience with is unnecessary. Some call it feminism, but I call it independence.

Every girl and guy in high school suffered through organized classrooms and lunch times with their clique, as it was an unwritten rule in high school to find yours, stick with it and never leave. That is until you decide you want to grow up. Part of moving to college and discovering yourself is separating who you were from what you are. Groups like that don’t work in college (except for sororities and fraternities, but that’s another story) -- we go in alone. Freshman year, you go home and it’s like a welcoming committee is at your door. Sophomore year it get’s kind of smaller. Junior year you send out texts but no one replies back except for a few of your best friends. Senior year you go home to your family, pets and about three of your best friends in the world. That is called growing up.

The family you once swore ruined your life and spent every day bringing down your social status has become more important to you than all the money in the world (even though that’d be a close second). They now support you through everything, and you comprehend the sacrifices and hard work your parents had to do for you. Your older and younger siblings are now your best friends, and going home to see them is like the first breath of air after resurfacing from being underwater. The people who once taught you how to live are now back at the top where they've always belonged.

Growing up: it is terrifying, life altering and sometimes lonely, but it is a process that simply occurs without realization -- and it is the best process of all, because you discover yourself and those who truly matter around you.