Distance doesn’t make you independent. Handling your own Tuesday does.

Independence is a set of skills, not a distance from home. Moving far away changes the scenery, and it does not teach you to cook, book an appointment, get up on your own or handle a bill, which plenty of people find out the hard way. The real test is an ordinary Tuesday with nobody prompting you. That can be practised from your own bedroom.

Take one thing over this week that somebody still does for you: your laundry, your alarm, calling to make your own appointment. Do it badly the first time. That is how the skill arrives, long before the address changes.