A whole new world.

It’s definitely difficult living by myself on the other side of the country after living with my family for 18 years in North Carolina.

Like, that’s a pretty huge change.

Okay, I’m not ALONE, but sometimes it feels that way. Even though there are like 300 other people living like 10 feet away from me at all times, it can be the loneliest feeling.

I think this is the first time many of us experience loneliness in our lives. It’s especially intense for me because the whole other side of the country deal.

I know I’m never truly alone, I know that. But sometimes it’s just hard when you don’t have a solid, unchanging support system with you at all times.

THAT IS WHAT HAS CHANGED.

I’ve finally put it into words. It’s figuring out how to deal without a solid, unchanging support system with you all the time. Of course there are support systems here that I’m thankful for, but I had to reach out to find them. That’s another big change. Instead of our support systems surrounding us from early on, here we have to search them out.

This is such a learning and growing process.

It’s hard to not be hard on yourself and say “WHY HAVEN’T YOU MADE BEST FRIENDS YET OR A GREAT SOLID FAMILY YET?” when you “see” this happening to everyone else. I put “see” in quotation marks because people put things on social media that they want you to see. They want you to see them with their very best friends in the entire world that they made a month ago. It might not be true, but our minds automatically assume that they are having the ABSOLUTE time of their lives.

I’m sure it’s hard for everyone in different ways. We just tend to feel like our struggle is unshared and everyone else is doing just dandy.

That’s typically not the case.