Leaving your hometown takes courage. So does staying when everyone expects you to leave.

Leaving is the recognised story, so it comes with its own soundtrack and everybody understands it. Staying by choice gets read as not having managed to go, which means anybody who genuinely chooses it has to hold their reasons steady against a constant low current of other people’s assumptions. The distinction that matters is whether you decided or whether you simply never left.

Either way, be able to say your reason in one sentence that does not mention anybody else’s opinion. If the sentence only works as a response to other people, keep thinking.