Entering college means new classes, new people, and a new environment. For many, it can be an exciting time but for others, it brings hardships, such as moving away from people you grew close to over the years and having to adjust those relationships with the added distance. Change is inevitable at any stage of your life and for me, change is something that I have always had trouble overcoming; more specifically when it comes to friendship.
Growing up, most of my friends had parents in the military and just as I was starting to grow close to them, they would break the news to me that they had to move all the way across the country. I can confidently say that I have had my fair share of changing friendships so to whoever is reading this and is dealing with a friendship break-up or a long-distance friendship, I sympathize with you.
My softball coach from high school, Balema Smalls, is someone who holds a very special place in my heart and once said to me, “People come into our lives for a reason, season, or a lifetime.” Eventually, I learned that when dealing with change, it’s important to take into account that as humans, we are inevitably ever-changing. Going into college, I was fairly confident that my friendships from home would remain strong and quite frankly, it came as a surprise to me when they started shifting.
Transitioning into college was hard on its own but also having to deal with fleeing friendships made things even more difficult for me. Throughout all of high school I had one very close friend, who I’m so grateful to have met, but with college separating us, it made things between us more distant, both emotionally and physically. First, we started texting less and became too busy to schedule video calls. Because of that space between us, it felt as though we almost started to resent each other because we both were busy at college. With that being said, I have nothing but love for her and I truly wish her the best, but unfortunately for us, our friendship was only made to last for a season.
It’s really important to keep in mind that just because a friendship or relationship doesn’t work out, it doesn’t mean that all of your future relationships are doomed. Regardless of who or what you believe in, everything happens for a reason, and things will work out the way they are meant to.