Moving away from home isn’t running. It’s finding out who you are without the familiar walls.

Leaving the place you grew up is not the same as running from it. Familiar walls do quiet work: they hold a version of you that everyone settled on years ago, and while they are standing it is nearly impossible to tell how much of that version is actually yours. Distance is the only way to run the test.

If leaving is not available yet, find a smaller version. A different job, a different town for one summer, a class where nobody knows your history. Watch which parts of you show up anyway, because those parts are yours.