Everyone has friends who made their high school experience memorable. Everyone also has people that they thought would be lifelong friends, who eventually went on their own path. It is an awkward conversation to explain why you don’t talk to the people you spent most of your teenage years with when there really isn’t a reason why. People drift apart and go on their own journeys after high school graduation. Still, it can be a tough pill to swallow when suddenly you don’t speak to people who have known you since you got your first period. Throughout my first semester of college, I learned to accept and move on from relationships that weren’t meant to be.
In High School, I had a tight-knit group of friends with whom I would spend all of my free time. We were actually inseparable from 8th grade until my senior year. My house had an open-door policy; as long as I was home, I didn’t care who was there, so I was with my friends every chance we had. We experienced many things together and talked about how we would be lifelong friends. Unfortunately, we, like a lot of drama and hormone-filled teenage girls, had a falling out, which I will admit I had a large part in. I no longer speak to most of those friends besides the one I eventually moved in with.
I graduated high school not talking to people I thought would be aunts to my eventual kids. That was a big pill to swallow for someone who relied so much on being around her friends. I spent my summer mostly alone and reflecting on who I was and who I wanted to be in college. My first semester was a difficult time for me, as it is for most students. It was a significant change for me, but in the end, one of the best ones I could have made. The independence I have and the friends and memories I have made make up for every hard night I have had since moving. College opens the door to thousands of new people and opportunities. If I had made the easy choice and stayed home, I would not have been able to meet all the fantastic people I have.
Since going to college, my friend circle has grown and I have been exposed to different cultures and perspectives. Accepting that I needed to grow up and move on was difficult, but I needed to learn that life lesson. There is no point in waiting around for people to change. It’s not wrong or bad to outgrow the people you met when you couldn’t drive yet. People grow up and change; sometimes, that change knocks you all onto different paths. Acceptance is the biggest tool for recovering from an awkward friend breakup.