You’re all set for college; your classes are starting soon, your dorm’s already decorated to the max with the posters, fairy lights and DIY projects you worked on during Move-In Day, and you haven’t gotten into a fight with your roommate(s) yet. Great, right? Before you head out, just give a quick warning to your Mo-oh. Oh, wait.

For a majority of students out there, they aren’t at home anymore where the fresh smell of the cooking of their mother (or father) is wafting around. Figures like parents that have supported them all throughout their lives and who have been taking care of them are suddenly not in the immediate picture anymore; it’s just them and the new world that they’ve chosen to go to by dorming at their new college.

It’s undeniably a struggle to go from having things at least partially taken care of for you to being on your own with the only person with you being your roommate(s).

But, it’s okay.

It’s a big change, and no matter what, I guarantee you that a lot of people are struggling with being away. Even I’m struggling, and Long Island is a mere forty minute train ride away.

There are times that everyone misses their parents, siblings, and even younger friends that are back at home. There’s an ambience that you’ve been used to for the past however many years, and suddenly, everything has changed.

It’s not your fault for taking some time to adjust and to get used to things because the truth of the matter is that any leap into going to somewhere new is very large.

I was debating whether or not I should go to my school’s Homecoming that was this past Friday; I would be in the area as I was surprising my dad.

The idea of coming back home to a high school which I had graduated from a mere few months ago felt like it would cheapen the visits later down the line; I refuse to be called someone that has “never left high school”, as I promised myself that I would not be that person. The only reason, after all, to come back would be to see old faces once again before college picked up the pace too fast. Ultimately, I decided to return if only to surprise some friends that I hadn’t told I was coming.

Any doubts I had about returning and meaningless ideas about “cheapening” future visits was immediately quashed from seeing the smiles, and getting picked up from the bear hugs of all of the people I had visited. I managed to surprise one of my best friends whom I hadn’t seen all summer, and so many more people that I had missed dearly.

Even friends that I had seen before when I returned for my friend’s Sweet 16 still had the brightest of smiles; the girl in particular ran up after me. One girl even called me on the phone on the verge between anger and hysterics because she thought I wasn’t coming to Homecoming, and she almost started crying. All of those experiences made me realize that it’s never a bad thing to want to see old friends again, or to go back home whenever I’m feeling some nostalgia for my parents.

Basically, the point of that story is to remember that the urge to go back to a place of comfort is not something to be ashamed of, and to act on it is not “bad” or “immature”. People grow and do learn how to be independent, but it’s not an immediate leap from one stage to the next; it’s a transition process, and everyone will achieve and do so at their own pace.