As we grow up and begin the life that immediately hits us like a bus the day after graduating high-school, we're bound to do one of three things. One, we choose to take a break from school and begin a career, and continue to reside in the town we've been living in for the past 12+ years. Two, we choose a college that is semi-close to home, because let's face it, most of us can't just move away in a snap of 3 months and pretend we've got it all together. Or three, we can take a risk and attend a college far, far away, and never look back.
Here's why I chose to never look back, and why you should too.
I wouldn't be an adult today had I not left when I did.
No offense to everyone still back at home, but I feel like if you never leave home, you never grow as much as you can. Adulthood definitely hit me like a train when I left home, but I think that's what makes me so humble today.
My college friends opened my eyes up to who I really am.
The crowd I surrounded myself in high school with versus the crowd I surround myself in college today with, are polar opposites. I believe the day you leave for college, you find who you really are: so, my college friends made me realize who I really am and that my high-school crowd was not the crowd for me.
I gained the respect from my parents I've been longing for.
When I look back at the years I spent at home, I can't help but think of how immature I was (mom, dad, even if you say I wasn't I know I was). I had no stable grip on reality and for that I think I spent the past 4 years of my life before college continuously running in the same circles trying to find where I belong. What's weird about all of that is, I found exactly who I was the day I left, the day I started to do it all on my own. I know I wouldn't have otherwise.
I've developed an insane drive for life.
Moving away from home gave me the energy to do things I didn't do at home, like get out of bed in the morning. I got so used to my laundry and three meals a day being ready for me that I was lost when I left home. So, I learned to get up early, make my own breakfast, work my schedule around having time for lunch, and getting home in time to make myself dinner. I also learned that I oddly enough love doing laundry, it gives me a sense of relaxation that I can't find elsewhere. So glad I moved away to find that.
So, ignore the first two choices. They won't give you life like never looking back will. Get out of there. There is so much more to life than the one you've been living: so much more to learn, to love, to explore. There's so much about yourself you'll never find out if you don't leave while you can.
