Once the euphoria of finishing finals recedes, the sadness of leaving all your college besties for the summer sinks in. You all live in different cities, counties or even states. So you head home, unsure about what you’re going to do to socialize all summer. Some of your friends from high school keep asking when you’re all going to hang out, but you’re feeling hesitant about whether that’s what you really want to do.
You shouldn’t feel pressured to hang out with your high school friends over summer. Yes, you may have known them since grade school or middle school or high school, but that doesn’t mean they always have to be the ones you turn to when you’re looking for something to do.
Going to college helps you grow as a person, both with your opinions and in your personality. Who you were in high school is not necessarily who you are now. And while you may have had some common interests in high school, those interests may have fizzled away as you continued to live in different worlds. It may feel easy to slip back into these friendships, but it may not be as comfortable as it once was.
Or, nothing could have changed, and you’ll slip right back into the solid rapport of your friendship. And that’s also okay! Some friendships are able to maintain the test of time and distance, and it’s awesome if that’s what happens.
But you shouldn’t be downtrodden if the opposite occurs and you can’t seem to find that common link you used to have with your high school friends. It’s okay for friendships to fade away. If this is the case, don’t force yourself to hang out with them because you feel like it’s the norm. Instead, go out and do activities you love, and allow yourself to make some new connections.