5 tips for moving away from home

College is a huge adjustment for us, leaving home and life as we knew it for 17 or 18 years, typically, can be overwhelming. But this is only the start of even bigger adventures and adjustments to come in our near futures.

After a few quick years in college, we pack up everything again and move onto something new. Maybe it’s a new job, a new city, or even a new country. Our lifestyles will change and our worlds may be flipped upside-down. There are going to be struggles and there is going to be happiness. There will be new relationships and old ones will end. Maybe we will get married and have kids, and maybe we won’t. Life will be unpredictable and confusing and frustrating, but there are a few simple ways to help handle these changes.

1. Stay in contact with your family and friends from home (I consider both my hometown and Chadron as home). Since you won’t see your people every day anymore, finding new ways to communicate is important. And by new, I don’t mean some completely new form of communication. Send cards and letters home. Shoot them a text or tag them in a funny meme on social media. Let them know that you are thinking about them and that you miss them. Don’t try to hide your emotions; honest communication is important to keeping healthy relationships.

2. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. You are not the only, first, or last person to move away and start a new adventure. So ask someone for help. You can ask anyone from your parents and friends to your new coworkers or neighbors. People want to help you be happy and succeed, so use your resources.

3. Have a good grasp as to who you are. When we graduated high school and came to college, we changed. Whether that was a good or bad change was up to us. And throughout college, we have changed even more. And once you graduate college and start your new adventure, you will go through a similar process. Don’t lose your morals and values you’ve built your entire life just to make friends or get a job. I know that having people around you is important and obviously a job and money are important, but those things are not worth giving up who you are and what you stand for.

4. Give it time. Moving away is going to take time to adjust to and you can’t spend one month in your new place and decide you hate it and run back home. You have to allow time to make friends, find new hobbies, make your house a home, and get settled into your new job. No doubt, college is one of the toughest, most confusing times of our lives, but struggles will continue to come your way after college. So even if life gets difficult, give your new home a chance to make you happy.

5. Make your adventure a real adventure. Don’t move away then end up hiding in your apartment whenever you are not at work. Just because you technically live there doesn’t mean you can’t be a tourist sometimes. Go see the sights, eat the food, and have fun. If you don’t find ways to enjoy yourself, you will end up sitting at home miserable, and that’s not the fun adventure that you set out to take.

None of us know what will come in our futures, but remember who you are, where you came from, and have faith that everything will always work out.