A New Found Indepedence

As I transitioned from high school to college many things changed in my life. I went from living with my parents and only having to worry about little things to living with no parents and having bigger responsibilities. This new sense of independence is somewhat of a shock at first. It takes a lot of people a while to adjust to this big change, whether they take advantage of it, or are scared of it. It depends on the person to determine the way they use this new found independence. In the story “Everyday Use” Dee asserted her independence in many ways that differ from the way that I asserted my independence.

When Dee decided to become independent from Mama and Maggie she seemed to make herself completely independent. It seemed as though Dee had forgotten about the family when she became independent. This is very different from how I asserted my independence. After moving away from my house and moving into a dorm I still kept very close contact with my family. I would talk to them a lot on the phone and I visited home often. I felt as though I still had them in my life and I know that it will always be that way. The only way that Dee and I are similar in the ways that we asserted our independence is that we wanted something to remember our family better. Although I had different motives in keeping something that would remind me of family this is the only small thing that is similar to Dee’s assertion of independence. I would never turn my independence into an escape from my family; I have no reason to be ashamed of my family.

There are other ways that I asserted my independence when I moved away from home. I have become much more responsible for my homework, money, laundry and many other things that I did not have to worry so much about at home. My mom would always ask me if I had homework and ask if I had completed it. Without her here to motivate me to get my work done I have to keep myself motivated to complete all of it on time. Also, since I do not have a job now I have to by wise with the money that I am spending. I have to keep tabs on how much money I have spent and also I have to ask myself if I truly want to spend money on something that I desire. When I lived at home I only did my laundry every once and a while. This is a big change from living with my parents, I have to do all of my laundry every time it needs washed. I am still not quite used to this, it will take time. With all of these factors that I have to worry about I believe that I am asserting my independence in a beneficial way. I am becoming more responsible for own things.

Dee and I are very different. Although we are both asserting our independence it is in very different ways. I am glad that I am not asserting my independence in the way that Dee is, I am very close with my family and I do not know what I would do without them. I can only hope that the way of asserting my independence will benefit me in the future and make me a better person overall.