Have you ever paused and pondered on your friends and old friends? How many friends have you had? How many of them do you still see or you’re in touch with or lost contact with? It’s a busy, busy world, and sometimes we can’t keep track of who we welcome to our lives and to whom we say goodbye or who just sometimes “ghosts” us or who we “ghost” all of a sudden. And, yes, nobody has to keep in touch with someone whose companionship they no longer enjoy or have nothing to share with anymore. Sometimes both parties have simply changed so much that they no longer meet each other’s expectations.
During the relatively quieter times of life, for instance on holidays, away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, when we have more time to think and reflect on what is going on in our lives, we realize that time flew and many people came and went, some stayed, some left. On this note, I realized that I had met so many amazing people this semester. It is always nice to get to know new people and to discover new facets of them as time goes by, it’s like reading a new book, discovering new things in each chapter.
On the other hand, it is also a very homely and comforting feeling to have people in your life who truly know you, to whom you don’t have to explain the reasons of everything you do, who know what makes you angry, sad, irritated or happy. Basically, the people who were with you while the chapters were being written back then, which your new friends try to read and discover now. In the future, maybe it will be the same with your current friends, they will know some of your chapters, they were there with you while the chapters were being written and they will know your authentic self.
While it is good to have new people in your life and let them read your pages and interpret what they mean while you also try to read theirs, it’s a very “embracing” feeling to have old friends in your life for such a long time. It’s like being enveloped by soft and warm blankets. To talk to them, to rekindle a flame is like eating a cookie that your mum made when you were a kid and it immediately takes you back to that time. It feels like nothing has changed, when in fact both you and your friends have changed but can still be the same together. It’s like resuming to watch a movie as if you never had paused it.
In a world changing ever so fast, it is good to have new friends and write new chapters to your book, but it’s also worth remembering and keeping the very old and first drafts of it.