The past few months I've been preparing for my boyfriend to leave for Spain to study abroad. And yet knowing it would happen and waiting for this day didn't make me any more prepared for what was about to come. All in one day it hit me so hard to realize that my best friend was leaving. The last two years he's been everything to me and we've grown up together, becoming part of each other. But another thing I realized, was that now more than ever it's important for him and I to still be together yet learn to grow more as people while we're apart. Of course we're going to talk all the time and I plan to visit at least once, but being so far from each other and having different experiences and learning to grow a little (without each other as a crutch), will teach us to find out more about ourselves and learn to become strong even when we're apart.

But enough about me, anyone in general will grow alongside someone but also learn more about themselves when they have some alone time. This doesn't just go for friends and boyfriends/girlfriends but parents and family. If you can't learn to figure things out for yourself and spend some time alone to find out what you like and who you really are, then you'll never truly know what you want in life if there's always someone beside you being your co-decision maker.

As sad as it is to be apart from a friend while away at school or your family, it's also a time to be yourself. Pick a new tv show you like, try out some other hobbies, eat new foods, read a book. Figuring out who you are in your down time, when you're alone, can make you even more better suited to be with your friends, family and/or significant other once you're in each other's presence again.

You're never going to be young again so you might as well figure out who you are without all the other people that make up the pieces of you. You are so much because of them but you are also more than just nothing without them.