Leaving the Nest

I experienced leaving the nest last year when moving from Whitecourt to Red Deer for college. At the time I had just turned 17 and it was a big step in my life and was also a great loss in my parent’s lives. For me moving out led to a great deal of loneliness (I was living completely on my own in a basement suit), had a hard time adjusting to being on my own and not having my parents there for me to do things for me and I also was mourning that my brother was still apart of the family and could go to every family function and I could not. Because I was already very independent living at home, creating an independent identity without the supports of my parents was actually one of the easier things for me. For my parents, they felt a great deal of loss and sadness when I left. My mother especially had a difficult time with this. She still tried to hold on to me as I was trying to create my own life and identity which created a lot of tensions between us. She would try to always know at all times where I was, the grades I was getting, where my money was going to, the friends I was meeting and calling me 2-3 times a day. For me, this created a lot of anxiety when I was deciding if it was OK for me to go out and create my own identity. I was constantly feeling bad about not always wanting them in the loop with every move I made, when they constantly wanted to know this. Overall, leaving the nest was a very hard transitional time for me and for my parents.