I'm not someone who bonds with people super easily. It isn't that I can't make friends. Truth be told, I can get along with just about anybody. I'm just a private person, and I don't open up a whole lot.

I have had some select friends that were very rare. The best kind of best friends. The ones you do everything with, who know you better than anybody else. Bonding with them came easily.

But the thing about being young is that you are constantly growing and changing. It took me a long time to realize that you grow out of people, just like you grow out of clothes. Sometimes they just don't fit anymore.

I hated that, and I took it very hard. Even if you don't necessarily have a falling out with a friend, growing apart can really suck. And there's nothing you can do about it. You can't stop yourself from growing.

But I realized that just because you grow apart from somebody doesn't mean you stop caring about them.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with loving someone from a distance. It doesn't mean you love them any less.

You don't have to talk or hang out every day for somebody to be special to you. You can still cheer them on and support them. You can still consider them a friend.

It doesn't make the bond any less special or the love any less real.

Everyone is on a path, and sometimes people's paths intersect but then have to split off. It's necessary for them to get where they're going. It's OK.

If you had a best friend who you grew apart from, that doesn't always have to be a negative thing. It took me a long time to realize this.

I want my friends to thrive and experience all this world has to offer. They can't do that if they are stuck in the past. And if that means we grow apart or spend more time away from each other, that's OK.

I started to focus on how lucky I was to have such amazing friends, friends I made the best of memories with. Even if we aren't as close anymore, I will always be there for them. And they will always be there for me.

It makes me happy to know that there are people like them out in the world.