Going into my junior year of college, I really thought my friend group was set. I thought “This is it”, and my social circle was complete. I had my close friends, my trusted advisors, and my friendly acquaintances.
And as Winter term began, I realized that my circle of friends will never really stop growing, because even if I’m all set, there’s always someone who needs someone. This term I got to be someone’s person.
A long term acquaintance of mine from last Spring suddenly became a bigger presence in my life after the graduation of our mutual, good friend.
She texts me random vines (RIP vine) and calls me on her way to a tinder date because she’s nervous. I even get the 2 a.m. text about ordering dominoes because we live one floor apart. I’m not going to lie – at first it was a little too much for me. I felt like I was already “on-call” for so many others that I just couldn’t handle one more.
But then this past weekend I got an insanely rough cold, and compounded with being run down just completely wiped me out. I spent an entire day in bed – and I usually work seven days a week, so I thought someone would notice. When I wasn’t sleeping, I was on my phone having my normal group text conversations (I feel like at this point millennials have at least 5 group chats going on at once). Then my friend calls and asks me if I’m home and after I say yes, she’s knocking at more door.
Not many come to my room. I consider it a very private space, and I am usually the visitor not the host. But all laid up in my bed, which my friend promptly jumps up to sit in, I’m just shocked that somebody is visiting me for once. So I asked her if anything was wrong, if she needed to talk, covering all my bases. I’m sitting there thinking she’s having some kind of crisis I need to solve.
Instead, she says “Nothing, I just wanted to hang out. I feel like I haven’t seen you in a while” (it had really only been about a day).
I realized that very few people are left in the world who just want to spend time with you because they enjoy your company. And I can’t imagine if I had not befriended this amazing person who, a) asked how/where I was that day and b) came to actually see me. We only recently became friends but of all the people I know, she was the one to reach out.
Yes, I now have another set of problems to solve, tears to wipe away, panic attacks to manage, all of which come with every friend. I also have more hopes and dreams to cheer on, shoulders to cry on, and laughs to share in a world where you actually can never have enough.
So my point is even when you think you’re all set in the friend department – don’t shut the door. You can always use an extra friend because we all need each other more than we think.