Becoming someone new isn’t betraying where you came from. It might be exactly what your roots were hoping for.

Growing into a different life can feel like a rejection of the people who raised you, particularly when they read it that way. Most of the time the effort they put in was aimed at exactly this. Distance in circumstances is not distance in loyalty. You can change what your days look like without changing who you belong to.

If guilt comes with moving away from where you started, say clearly to someone back home that they are still yours. Keep the contact regular rather than grand. The guilt shrinks as the connection holds.