You truly get to know yourself

Moving to a new locale helps you realize and understand who you really are. After all, the most important relationship is the one you have with yourself. Living in a different city allows you to explore what you like and dislike, what you fear and what you cherish. Clinging to only what you’re comfortable with won’t allow you to discover your full potential. 

Break free of your comfort zone and soon you’ll realize how comfortable you’ve become with yourself. Moving away is also a chance to reinvent yourself and start fresh. Be who you really want to be, not what your high school classmates branded you as. In an unfamiliar place, you will refine your beliefs. Even if you left home and decided you didn’t like it, you’ve still learned something about yourself.          

Crossing state or country borders may land you in a very different culture. Maybe this is a scary thought, but with an open mind, it can be exhilarating. Residing in a new city will allow you to understand the culture more than any family vacation or magazine article could ever teach you. All across the U.S., citizens live different lifestyles. Often times, the word “different” has a negative connotation. It shouldn’t. You will learn that just because something is different or not what you are used to at home, it does not mean it is wrong. It is simply different than what you know. Moving to a different city will teach acceptance and open-mindedness firsthand.  

Gaining independence

Reality check: Your parents really do want you to grow up. You’ve heard the saying, “If you want to be treated like an adult then act like one.” Acting like an adult ultimately means taking full responsibility for oneself. It is obvious that living more than a few hours from home will make it difficult for mom and dad to help you with daily tasks. This is a good thing! Do you really want to be a twenty one-year-old who doesn’t know how to work a washing machine or doesn't know when your rent is due? Moving away forces you to do things on your own. You will try new things and maybe make a few mistakes along the way, but that is all part of the learning experience. You will build up courage to make things happen on your own.                  

Making connections

Moving away means meeting new people, from life-long friends to important career connections. Think about all the networking you will do in a new city. Sure, you could line up an internship at your parent’s workplace, but moving away allows for so many other growth opportunities. It may be difficult at first to network, but once you make friends (and meet friends of their friends) then you will have a completely new network in addition to the one from back home. Just like the scout song taught us, “Make new friends but keep the old.”  

College is four (or five) years dedicated to not only earning a degree, but also to figuring out how you want to spend your life and who you truly are as a person. One of the best ways to find the answers to these questions is to venture away from your hometown and move somewhere new. I don’t want to belittle staying in your hometown. For some, home is honestly where their heart is and that’s fine. But if you’re up for the adventure of moving away, you won’t regret it.