It is that last semester of high school and you and your best friends are completely done with school and ready to graduate but have already been making plans on ways to stay in touch. Your going to school in a completely different state and your friends are as well but somehow you have convinced yourself that things will always be the same with guys and your friendship is so strong that nothing could break it. There is one thing your missing, college changes you in ways you never thought and its going to do the same to your friends. Since your not together 24/7 any longer you're going to all change in different ways, and that is completely ok. Trust me, I have experienced all of it these past few months and want to prepare you for as little hurt as possible.
After high school, the people you know will all go in completely separate directions as yourself and I want to tell you that this is completely normal and expected. Life is bound to change and its change we all need at this point in our lives no matter if you think your ready or not. And with that change comes with a change to your friendships.
In high school, friendships are easy. You see each other all the time in high school and relate to the exact same things, such as annoying teachers or a hard assignment. After school, you all meet up at your favorite restaurant and coffee shops and gossip about school together or talk about how exciting all of your futures are. You don't have to worry about money or your time is not consumed by work. You could easily spend weekends and school breaks together but in college, your schedules are now at different times.
You are always broke and are no longer living on the financial backings of your parents. Breaks are on different times with different colleges so you barely ever are in town at the same time. Whenever you guys finally find a time to get together after months of sporadic FaceTime calls and a few texts here and there, its the most awkward and dry conversation because you realize that there is no longer anything you guys have in common other than high school.
Life for everyone has all changed so drastically and it was not together. One important thing for you high school seniors to understand is that you should never force a friendship to last if you feel it's falling apart. Just leave your friendships with the good times and move on, because you're going to meet some of the most amazing people in college and create the most lasting friendships you will have ever have. It may be hard to even fathom how life is going to be in the following months after graduation but an easy tip I have in order to come to terms with moving on from your current best friends is to document all of the good memories you guys may have had together, either printing pictures or journaling about it, and keep making these kinds of memories and documenting them with your new friends in college. It allows you to see that life does not end when your friendships do, you can still enjoy life and create amazing friendships with new people.
I understand that not everyone is the same and maybe after months apart you will still talk to your friends like nothing has changed but for the majority, times will change and the sooner you accept the change with open arms the easier this change will be.
