This must be growing up.

After a year away from the life you've always lived, change becomes the norm. You catch yourself calling your college town home rather than your hometown, and you feel guilty about it. You get excited to go back to school and are, for lack of a better word, over life where you had lived it for so long. Your childhood house becomes your "parents' house" and a week back is a week too long. Home is no longer a place but a concept, something that takes on a variety of different forms depending on the context. And you know what? That's okay.

So this must be growing up. It's sad at times, yes, but the positive side outweighs the negative tenfold. When your second home becomes your real home, you've reached a new level of self-acceptance and discovery. It means that you are autonomous over own life and are capable of taking care of yourself completely. You are becoming your true self as each day goes on, and you are learning to make a home out of yourself rather than other people.

For so long, life was dictated by your parents, friends, teachers, coaches, and society in general. You had certain freedoms, yet life seemed to be just brushing the surface rather than digging down deep. There were always expectations from others to be met and though you were encouraged to be yourself, something was keeping you from knowing who that actually was.

With college, a stroke of freedom ensued you. Everything in your life was now up to you-whether you ate, what you ate, how you'd spend your free time, whether you'd go to class or not, the list goes on and on. For a while, the possibilities were overwhelming; stress and anxiety followed shortly after, and perhaps even a few wild mistakes that were learned from (or perhaps not).

But now... Now, you've got it all figured out. You know what to expect in school and you have your group of close friends. You have your life that you're familiar with, and it's nothing like the one you knew a year or two ago. You're the same person, yet everything has changed. The thought may be unsettling, but it's equally as exciting.

Don't feel bad about making yourself home, embrace it. You are stronger than you were before and you are still the bright, shining kid that entered college (if not better)! Your parents understand the process and, believe me, they will forgive you. Even better, they will be so proud of you for becoming the true and diligent young adult you are. Home will still be there, no matter where your body goes.