Friendships are a lot like relationships. There are some special people you meet in your lifetime that you just instantly click with. You sync up with them automatically, as if you were destined to be together. Sometimes it seems as though fate drew you together. Sometimes you can’t even remember how you met some of your closest, dearest friends.
Looking back at some of the friends I used to hang out with constantly, I find myself wondering what happened. Why did we drift apart? What caused us to lose contact with each other? Why did we become so distant? Are there even any possible answers to these questions?
Honestly, I don’t really know. But that’s what I want to find out. The first group of friends I drifted apart from, so to speak, were my group of middle school friends. I had a bunch, and we hung out together all the time; we were practically inseparable. However, after we all went off to high school, we just kind of didn’t hang out anymore. I don’t know why. I don’t know how. I mean, for god sakes, we went to the same high school!
The only explanation I have for this, looking back, is that we participated in different sports, and we met different people in the different classes we had. I’m not upset we drifted apart, and we were still civil to each other. We would wave, smile, and greet each other in the hallway. We just had different interests and had different goals and ideas of what high school should be.
The next group of friends I stopped hanging with were people I met in Germany. However, that has to do with the fact that they live across the country. I have a bit of an excuse for that one, I think. And to be fair, we check up on each other decently often, so we’re still in contact and would totally hang out with each other if we could.
The next group of friends were the first group of people I met my first semester of college. We were all really tight knit, and we hung out 24/7. We all lived on campus in dorms, so that made it a heck of a lot easier…and also lead to a heck of a lot more drama!
We ended up splitting apart because some of the people began gossiping among each other about me. I distanced myself from them, but the few people didn’t really seem to care that much, so I just completely cut myself off. It was a little sad because I was all the way here (in Pennsylvania) from California. So I felt kind of alone for a bit, but I knew it was for the best because that group of people just wasn’t for me.
Overall, I think that the most important part of letting go of friendships is looking back on them. You have to look and see how they helped you then, and how it’s a good thing you are no longer friends with those people. Many times, we grow apart from friends because we’re just developing different ideas of what we really want.
We’re discovering a more true and pure version of ourselves, and doing so sheds light on aspects of our current lives that we no longer need. Once we realize this, we can appreciate past relationships, and move forward into the present for friends who support us in the fullest version of who we are.
