I have never been content with being stagnant. Ever since a young age, I have been itching to leave home. Don’t get me wrong, I love my friends and family, but the feeling has never disappeared. I once read that if a place is calling your name, there must be something waiting for you. Coincidentally, that place happens to be anywhere that takes me far away from where I grew up.
My hometown feels like it’s stuck in time. All of my teachers went to high school with one another and still talk about the Bell Game (football game between rival high schools) every single fall without fail. I observe how they still relive their high school years, even though they are supposed to be teaching high schoolers – not acting like them. Around town, I see how many women are okay with being traditional stay-at-home moms. I notice how a majority never leaves the state, and at max go only about two hours away for vacation. I hear how kids my age are incapable of developing opinions of their own, and instead just become an outlet of their parent’s voices. I realize how I began to feel bad about voicing my opinions and goals, simply because no one else understood where I was coming from.
Sometimes I notice how you do not know you are in a bubble until you leave. When you have a lack of worldview, and what you’re surrounded by is all you know, then change can be scary. It is essential to notice the patterns in your hometown, and if you are not confident to claim them yourself, then you must find a way out.
When something scares us, it’s usually because change will come from it. Yet, being comfortable does not mean you are at your happiest. Often I would ask my classmates what their plans for the future were, and many say they are content with staying home and going to community college. There is nothing wrong with this, it’s just that it is a result of not knowing your options and what is possible. Now, not to sound pretentious, but I started researching colleges in fifth grade. This gave me motivation as something to work towards. So, when there is nothing in mind that you want to achieve, the more and more stagnant you become by the day.
Now that I am at college, almost four hours away from my hometown, I can truly tap into all the parts of myself that were dimmed back home. I find myself unshackled from the weight of sparing people’s feelings. I can talk about my biggest dreams without feeling out of place. I can discuss complex topics with people who share the same viewpoint. I can breathe in fresh ocean air instead of manure (my town is heavily agricultural). Overall, I have been able to grow as a person far more than I was ever able to back home.
So, if you have an itch to leave, scratch it.