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Wishing for anywhere but here

If graduation was geographic, it’d be the bright blue ocean. It’d be jumping off of a plane, feet first, into that bottomless abyss. If you are fortunate enough to attend college, it’s this ocean that you’ll be immersed in for the next few years of your life; and while the unknown depth of the sea can be frightening, it’s also the perfect place to go exploring.

You see college is, for many of us, the first time in our young lives we get to pick where we want to go. Those fantasies you had about your dream destination, you can make reality.

I remember telling my mom how much I despised living in rural/suburban Pennsylvania, and how as soon as I was old enough to apply for college, I would proudly be attending California State University. The west coast was the life for me (even though I had never been farther than South Carolina). I was young, growing up in the ever-advancing clutches of social media, and saw the *~magical~* places that were Long Beach and Hollywood. The internet cast it’s lovely, golden light through those pictures and it’s no wonder I was taking out my frustration on my home; my home that is filled with rolling fields, forests of every shade of green, and the beauteous Appalachian Mountains. I wish I had appreciated these things more while I had the time.

I used to hear constantly the complaints of, “I want to leave; just get out of here and do something with my life,” or, “There’s nothing that ever happens in this town,” or even “This place is worthless. I can’t wait to move to a big city or small town (depending on your current location).” Obviously, it used to be me. It used to be a whole class of my peers, but the problem still stands:

Why are we so unhappy where we are?

            Maybe it’s something you outgrow, or maybe it’s just something you learn to live with, but as time goes on, I notice fewer and fewer people complaining about their hometown. Whether this is good that they’ve outgrown their whining, or bad because they feel they’re only getting through their mundane lives and not living them to the fullest, I have yet to determine. However, the fact of the matter is you can’t walk through a high school hallway without hearing a few remaining students complain about wanting something different.

I know the feeling all too well, myself. Pittsburgh, the city that rises of out the Pennsylvania Mountains like Mt. Olympus does out of Greece, the home of the Gods (of business), the place I have wanted to be almost all of my life. Every chance I get to make the two hour trek to Pittsburgh, I take. But it isn’t just Pittsburgh. A trip to New York City as a graduation present and a family vacation to Myrtle Beach are all things I’m counting the days down to (I’m still working on springing ahead).

These trips are losing something, though. It’s reality now that I will not be here in three short months. 90 days of my life here in Bellwood-Antis left, and suddenly, all of those times I wished to be somewhere else seem pointless. Instead of longing for anything other than what I had, I should’ve been grateful for where I was.

You would not be you, without where you came from.