College is a time for new beginnings. You can go as far away as you want and you can start over, but it doesn't mean you need to forget your past. Where you come from genuinely matters. You can change and you can let new people and new places bring out different parts of you. It's actually interesting to see what college and the change of environment can do for a person, but it isn't cool when they throw out their entire past.

Whether you like it or not, the people you were friends with up until college shaped a huge part of who you are. It isn't fair to act like they didn't and that they don't matter. In some way, probably in a really small one, they even had an impact on what you decided to do after high school.

Whether you go to a school with people you know or not, it's nice to make them feel included in this big transitional moment. It can get crazy and it may take more effort than it ever used to, but it should be worth it. If people are actually trying to be in your life when they're also busy and going through changes, it should be acknowledged and appreciated. If there are people in your life checking in, it's because you matter to them. They liked the person you were before you decided to take on a new personality.

But it's shocking to see how many people will blow off every person they've ever known because they want to become a totally new person. They don't pay attention to who they leave behind and they forget they mattered to who they leave out. Meanwhile, these people are forced to find new friends and they eventually move on too.

Childhood friends matter so much because they're the ones who know where you come from and what it took when you were on the pursuit to find who you want to become. People may latch on to the product of that when you get where you're going, but they'll never really know what made it happen. Friends can last forever if the work is put in and time and distance stop mattering. Convenience isn't everything for the future to hold up.

And the truth is, some people should take the chance with a new school to change. Change can be so healthy and if you didn't like who you were before then don't continue to be that person you didn't enjoy. If there were people you wanted to get away from and never had the chance to, then go, find the people you need in your life that will fill the holes.

But always remember you mattered to people and those people want the best thing for you.