Falling back in love with New Hampshire

For most of my life, I was convinced that I needed to leave New Hampshire.

Whenever someone asked what I wanted most in a college, my answer was constant. I wanted to “get out of New Hampshire”. I had lived there my entire life, and I was convinced that I had seen basically everything there was to see. All I wanted was something new and exciting.

I was especially jealous of my friends from places like Los Angeles and New York City. Their everyday life seemed full of opportunities and new experiences. They had concerts, cool restaurants and things happening around them all the time. Meanwhile, I felt like New Hampshire barely changed. I wanted to be somewhere where I could experience something new and ‘better.’

So when I chose a college in North Carolina (literally as far as my family would let me), I thought I had gotten exactly what I wanted. I was finally leaving. I was going somewhere completely different, and I was so beyond excited to start this new chapter of my life.

Then I came to Elon, and I missed home.

It was something I never would have ever expected. I had spent years talking about leaving New Hampshire, why did I suddenly want to go back so badly?

I missed the crisp cold mornings on my way to school. I missed seeing the trees in front of my house change from green to bright yellow, orange and red every fall. I missed the ice cream shop my friends and I would go to after field hockey games. I even missed the things I used to complain about.

I had spent so much time focusing on what New Hampshire didn’t have that I failed to notice all the good it did have. I was so focused on getting somewhere else that I stopped appreciating where I already was.

When fall break finally came, I couldn’t wait to go home. And when I did, I saw my home so differently. The trees in front of the church were covered in beautiful fall colors, something I had driven past my whole life without ever actually stopping to appreciate. My childhood best friends, who I didn't realize how much I missed laughing with. Places that had once seemed completely ordinary suddenly felt so meaningful now that I had been gone. 

That experience made me really realize how I had fallen into thinking the grass is always greener somewhere else.

We constantly compare our lives to what we think other people are experiencing. We want the next grade, the next season, the next vacation, the next relationship, the next school or the next city. We tend to convince ourselves that happiness is waiting for us somewhere else. But when we spend all our time looking toward what comes next, we can miss what is happening right now. 

I think this is especially easy to do in college. College is supposed to be a time of change, and a stepping stone to the rest of our lives. There is always something new to look forward to. A different class, a new friend, a weekend trip, a new semester or a future career. It can be tempting to spend the present moment waiting for the next exciting thing. But college only lasts a few years, and the ordinary moments are often the ones we end up remembering most.

Leaving New Hampshire was still one of the best decisions I have made, and I do not regret it. I needed to experience something different, and I am grateful that I did. But leaving taught me something that staying never would have. I did not fully appreciate home until I was away from it.

I have started to realize that sometimes the best parts of life are the small things we barely notice. For me, it was the changing leaves, a familiar drive, a random afternoon with friends, or the view I’ve seen a thousand times. There’s good in everything if you stop and look for it.

Photo credits: Grace Watson