Does anyone else feel like a different person when they’re home from school? Like I’m the same base of a person (weird wording but go with it) but I feel physically different at my parent's house. At school I’m independent, make all of my own decisions, and do whatever I want without thinking about anyone else having other plans for me.

Don’t get me wrong, I have total control over what I do when I’m home, I’m an adult and my parents see me as one. But I’ll always feel like I need permission to do things, and I’m a lot less selfish at home. Not that I’m selfish at school, but I do more things solely because I want to when I’m on my own. Around family, I could go out with friends or spend six hours watching cat videos, but instead, I watch my moms shows with her or help cook and clean in the kitchen etc.

I think no matter how old I am, I'll always have that feeling of a child around my parents, simply because that's how it's been most of my life, and it's hard to get to a point where you're "equal" or on the same level as a parent. They've had way more life experience than you have, and will almost always know what's best for you, so it's easy to default back to a child's mindset of needing advice and asking for permission around your parents, when you are fine confidently doing the same things on your own when you aren't around them.

In both situations, I feel like myself, but it’s almost as if I’m a different person in both places. Both are me, but they’re not the same. Recently, I had to take a personality test at a group bonding event for my job, and some people got results that one of their characteristics was "two-faced". Most of them took that as negative and were upset.

Then our adviser put it in a new perspective: being two-faced doesn't always mean the negative connotation that one is fake to someone's face, and talks bad behind their back. Two faced can simply mean that you act differently in different situations. It can be that your professional self is not the same as who you are when you're out with friends on a Friday (or more commonly Thursday if you're a college student, let's get real college night discounts are the bomb) night.

I’d like for one day, possibly these two versions of myself to combine into one personality, but maybe that’s not how it’s supposed to be. Maybe you’re not always supposed to be the same person. I’m looking forward to continuing this journey we call life to find out who I am, who I’ll be, and how many different personalities I may have.

After writing this article I've even put myself into a new perspective of thinking I really shouldn't always "be" the same person everywhere I go. It's healthy to have a different personality around family, co-workers, and friends. It's actually probably better to enhance the different kinds of relationships you may have if you're not in the same mindset no matter where you are.

Let me know if you relate, and feel free to share similar feelings/situations in the comments!