Lake Erie, PA – The sunsets of Erie, Pennsylvania are unlike anything else. The sun reflects off the water of the lake. As do underlying, reminiscent feelings of adolescent nostalgia. That is if you are considered a local resident of the county.
Not to mention familiar peers from teenage years that linger about campus and mirror to me the discouragement of still being residents of shared our hometown.
Gannon University is located within the heart of the downtown community. As I am making new memories as a college student, I cannot help but consider how the memories of myself in my youth were made at the same coordinates.
I used to fear that a potential blockade in the path of my achievements to come would be the roots of my hometown. At times, this irrational stressor still arises.
I often struggle with inconsistency in my perspective, regarding my attendance at a college in my hometown. It is not the University of Gannon that is in question. Rather, the feeling that I am stuck in a mindset like that of the one that I had in high school. This is the result of attendance at a local University.
If you find yourself resisting the persistent urge to correlate adverse experiences in high school to your current stage of life as a college student, then you are not alone.
Much like others, I have an inevitable and bone-chilling fear of wasted potential. I aspired dissimilar to those that a younger version of myself would have preferred that I achieved. I am different than how I had anticipated myself would be. This is certainly for the best.
This inconsistent perspective does not indicate entrapment in a hometown, or failure of any kind. Rather, an adjustment in the set of mind needs to be made.
Just because my experiences in high school were adverse, does not mean that others had the same experiences. There is no shame in staying in, or returning to, your hometown.
I have been challenging myself to differentiate the malicious memories of my youth from the places where these memories in question were made. Reset your perspective and separate your denotational and connotational understandings of the people, places, and things around you.
In disregard as to whether you are currently attending a university within your hometown, it is likely that maximum advantage of the resources offered will be taken advantage of. This achievement of potential through the utilization of resources will occur whether in attendance of an accredited, local institution or not.
There are also plentiful benefits to attendance at a local university. This includes the comfort of the already familiar nooks of the town. As well as the faces of those that you find comfort in.
There is nothing wrong with craving independence from your hometown. Nor is there any issue in embracing the beauty of the recognized stability that it carries.
