In our life, everyone needs to know how to live independently. Independence cannot be reached in one or two days and not everybody will achieve it. Some people will be affected by others’ opinions easily. They are not able to follow their deepest values. By definition, independence is a living style that is not influenced or controlled by other people, but I define it as being able to live away from home healthily and as self-standing, taking care of myself. Since I was only fourteen years old, I've already lived away from my parents. Because of the better education, they sent me to the United States for the study abroad program. For most of the adult people, they would think I could turn into a bad person as I don't have any supervision on my side. To prove that they're wrong, I've stayed healthily for three years and never done anything that makes my mother concern about. Furthermore, in order to maintain a healthy status, I need to constantly train myself to be independent and not absolute reliance. Although there are many parties and friends’ invitation to stay after 10:00pm, I always reject those. I can hang out, do something fun with them, but I've never gone far off the limits. In one instance, I really had to fight intense peer pressure to keep this commitment. Some friends were going to a party, wanted me to stay at their house all night. I nicely refused, telling them I still have a lot of homework need to be done. After that, they began to respect my decisions. It is really boring and depressing sometimes, stress can easily occur in that moment. However, I can't allow myself to go in a wrong directions and do something bad in under any circumstances. Because I know that my mission in America is study, I can’t let anything affect it. Independence has helped me through the life away from home efficiently. It is not just only make my life easier, but also it’s a prerequisite for me to create self-reliance. For me, I u