Do you ever get that feeling, when you go visit your old elementary school or a place you spent a lot of your childhood years, and it just feels different? It’s the same feeling a lot of us have now as a college student going back home – you may feel some distance.
You first feel it when you’re a freshman and it’s the first break of the semester. You and your friends have so many new stories to share. Your parents ask you way too many questions to make sure you’re okay, but it feels like you’re being babied. You sleep in your bed for the first time in a long time. And somehow it’s all so different. That feeling really hits you when you visit your high school. It’s been less than six months since you were last walking those halls, but it’s not the same place anymore, at least not to you.
College is where you have new experiences and make new relationships. Your surroundings change entirely. It’s no surprise that trying to readapt to an old lifestyle will feel different and maybe a little bit strange. So much has changed and you may not know how to balance your two different worlds. It makes total sense that you feel disconnected.
The issue is that there’s an imbalance. You’re juggling so many different relationships and connections, to the point that you start fizzling out on old friendships for new ones. It takes time to accept this new feeling. There will be a point where your two worlds will become one again, but it takes time. You have to find a balance in the two. Making an effort to keep in touch with people from home may bridge the distance. Your hometown will feel like home again.