It seems almost every high school senior is posting or tweeting about graduating, about not being able to wait and wanting to get out of where they are. Most students in college will tell them to slow down and enjoy the time they're spending in the halls of their high school, that they wish they could go back and appreciate it a little bit more.
I share those sentiments, but I also want to say this: it's OK to outgrow your hometown.
To the graduating high school seniors: you are so much bigger and brighter than you think you are now, and the world is waiting for you. Don't stay in your little corner of the universe where you know everyone and everyone knows you, where things are familiar and comfortable, where life seems cozy but small.
Go out into the world, even if it's just one town over. Do big things, or do small things greatly. Go see something other than the same convenience store, grocery store, and diner that have formed the landscape of your life for so long, too long.
When you graduate, the opportunity to explore the world you inhabit invites you. Realize that you have the power to affect change not just personally or locally, but nationally and globally. We're part of a huge world, with enormous issues and yet tremendous beauty. You deserve to see more than just the one town you were raised in, the one beach you always vacation at, and even just the college you chose in a town that you think will be far enough away.
Life isn't straightforward and simple, and we never know where we'll end up. But we do have the power to keep pushing forward, to expand ourselves and our perspective. Whether you choose college, the military, work, or something else after high school, you will never stop learning, nor should you avoid opportunities to do so. Look for ways to get out of your hometown, or maybe not permanently, and establish who you are in this world, what role you will play.
Study abroad isn't accessible for everyone, and that's not really the advice I want to give you. If you have the opportunity, jump in with no hesitations. If something else draws your eye, take that leap too. If you're from a big city, take a bus out to a small town. Stay in a motel for a few days, eat at the diner with the flickering neon sign, make a friend or two or ten. If you're from a small town, go to a city and don't be a tourist; try to be a city person. Walk like you own the street, like every smell and shout and flashing light are there for you because it's your city. If you're from the suburbs, just get the hell out of it. See the small towns and see the big cities; will you be able to sleep in the silent country, will you be able to navigate unfamiliar concrete streets?
Leave your hometown. Make yourself uncomfortable. Put yourself where you don't belong until you feel like you do. Sometimes we have to move plants from pot to pot in order for them to grow more beautifully, more richly. People are the same.
It's a big and beautiful world; don't stay in one place or you'll miss out.
