I have always had a very close family.They have always been my supporters and confidantes from a very young age, and they always knew the trick to make me feel better if tough situations arose. I believe I was living in a bit of a bubble, as I depended on them heavily to help me deal with any minor issues, and I didn't always try and solve those issues myself.

When college rolled around, although I was excited about the prospect of meeting countless new people, I was very nervous about the idea of living that far away from home for such a long period of time. I had never been away from home for longer than 2 weeks, and now I was going to college where I wouldn't see my family for over a month and was about 5 and 1/2 hours away. College is the epitome of unraveling a cocoon, and I wasn't sure if I was ready to be unraveled.

When I first arrived at school, I was catapulted into a multitude of activities, which gave me little time to think about being so far from home and truly being on my own. But, for the first new nights at school, when I was able to reflect and allowed to think (probably too much), fear and a bit of anxiety would creep over me as it truly settled in that I was hundreds of miles away from the comfort of my home. I was in a new environment with people I hardly knew, I didn't have my close friends from home surrounding me, and I didn't have my family close by.

However, as I began to form new friendships and became more comfortable in my surroundings, I slowly began to see Sue B as my new home away from home. After a week, when I facetimed my family, they were happily surprised at how genuinely happy I seemed at school. I had already began forming close bonds with people that I continue to be very close with today, and instead of fearing my new found freedom and independence, I accepted it and enjoyed it. I could now actually do my own laundry (as lame as that seems), and when an issue arose at school, I knew that I had to deal with it myself rather than relying on my family.

Thanks to college, I found the confidence in myself to make more of my own decisions, and I felt a new sense of independence that I had never really appreciated before. Although my family will always be my number one supporters and confidantes, I now look to myself for encouragement and strength, and I believe I am a stronger person for it.