Leaving home stirs range of emotions | Reflections from Jenna VanHoof

Know the feeling in your stomach when you do not want to go on the roller coaster with the big drop and upside down twist at the county fair? Or somewhere scary when you were young? Or maybe even now, who knows. That is the feeling I got when moving out. Just plain nervous and scared.

Know the feeling in your stomach when you do not want to go on the roller coaster with the big drop and upside down twist at the county fair? Or somewhere scary when you were young? Or maybe even now, who knows. That is the feeling I got when moving out. Just plain nervous and scared.

I asked a friend, who has moved out and went to Central Washington University, how she felt about it.

“Relieved because my parents were controlling. My roommate told me that we did not have much in common on the first day, though, because she had looked at my Facebook and already judged me,” she said.

The truth is, moving out is hard and different for everyone.

I asked another friend, who goes to Green River Community College, the same question.

“I was really excited to be on my own and have new experiences but it was kind of hard because my mom and I are close,” she said.

Changing where you live for the first time is strange; you do not know what to expect and you are either excited or nervous. It depends on your situation and who you are.

I asked the same person that went to Central Washington University about managing college classes and living on her own.

“(It’s) harder than high school, yet it was easier to motivate myself because I was happier out of my parents’ house and I had chosen the classes, too,” she said.

It is like a momma bird giving the baby bird a push out of the nest to take its first flight. You are flying free. You have your own freedom, open space and your own rules (somewhat), but there is danger, pressure and homesickness. Danger of trusting the wrong people, peer pressures, failing classes and of course making the wrong choices.

But the reality is that moving out and being on your own is not as scary as it seems.