Over a year and a half ago, it was Bid Day. I was crying tears of joy because I had found my forever home away from home: my sorority. I was promising myself a lifetime of sisterhood, exciting adventures, and friends for life. For a while, that was exactly what I was getting. As a first-year in a sorority, I met so many new people and older girls who could be my mentor. Now, I sit in my bed and attend Zoom meetings for the chapter every week. I have not seen the sorority sisters that I used to almost every week in almost a year. How do you maintain a sisterhood in times like this? Is it possible to form meaningful relationships only virtually? Personally, I cannot form meaningful friendships through the phone, Zoom, or really anything other than in person. This being said, I’ve really struggled with still being a part of a sorority. It is hard to find the purpose of staying when every reason you’ve joined has been stripped from the experience.
Being all virtual definitely enhances loneliness in all aspects of life. It has impacted everyone differently. For me, I definitely felt it most in my college experience and sorority life. College is the time to branch out and meet new people, and joining a sorority was my way of doing so. When I moved home, I was stuck here and any form of “real sorority life” was just not possible anymore in a sorority at the moment. Even with a leadership position, I felt extremely disconnected. Slowly, I became unmotivated to do the work that needed to be done. My sorority slowly became more of a burden in my life than anything else.
