Everyday at least 160,000 students get bullied in school and decide it is better to stay home in fear of being picked on. I think I can relate this topic to almost every student, everyone gets bullied in their school life and nowadays even online because we are so connected with each other through social media. Back in my first year of middle school I had what I thought was the perfect group of friends, two girls who I had been friends with since elementary school and another girl who we had all met in our first year of middle school. Everything seemed to be going great, the four of us would go out on the weekends to the mall, movies or just to hang out at each other’s houses. But after a few months things started to feel different. The three girls distanced themselves from me and I couldn’t figure out why. I was trying for months to see if it was something I said or did, but no one would talk to me. They all just left me without saying anything. Plus this was around the time where everyone was able to have a Facebook account, and it followed me onto there. The two girls who had accounts would message me nasty things and call me names. Some days I didn’t go to school because I was afraid to face them and didn’t want to hear all the nasty things they said online to my face. I knew from that moment on that I had to find different people, people who would actually treat me right.

Of course like every other kid in school, I have gone through multiple friendships and most of them did not end very well. Throughout the rest of middle school (up until my last year) I found another group of friends that accepted me for what I am. Once I got to my last year of middle school I met a new girl, rekindled a friendship from elementary school and one of girls, who left me back in sixth grade joined our group. I had another group that I knew would last for a long time, and for the most part, it has. We’ve had our share of disagreements, but every friendship has that. What I’ve learned about friendships is that you are always going to have multiples and the ones you thought would last forever never do. You’ll meet people who you think are the perfect friends, but people change and so do you, you all eventually grow out of each other and there comes a time when you know the friendship isn’t right anymore. I’ve also learned that you can’t hold a grudge, and that comes along with having disagreements with friends. You might have a different opinion on something then your friend(s) and that is fine, but you can’t get mad at them and stay mad at them forever because that won’t make anything better.

I would think after middle school that I had found a group of friends that would stick with me, but of course, I was wrong. Being a freshman in college now, I have learned that losing friends and having the people in your immediate "circle" change over time, is a sign of growth. You learn over time that people are going to change no matter how hard you try and keep them the same. Sometimes people will just drop you for no reason and there is nothing you can do about it. It will hurt like hell for a very long time and in some cases, you might not ever get over it, but you will realize over time who is actually important and who is worth your time in your life. Even though I am only in my second semester of freshman year in college, I know that the people I meet in college will stick with me for a very significant time. Middle school and high school is that time for "trial" friendships, not there isn't any hope for friendships with people that you meet in those times and they won't last, but most cases that they don't last and there is nothing wrong with that.

With everything that I’ve learned with different friendships, it has made me into a better person and it has made me a much more mature and understanding person. I realized that friendships won’t last forever and you can’t hold grudges. Going through so many friendships so far in my life has made me grow as a person in so many ways. If you don't go through friendships, you'll never learn that people are capable of changing at any point in your life. Just learn that the friends you have now, you need to cherish them no matter what. Life is constantly going to change, but the people in your life will always be there to support you no matter what happens, just remember that they may not always last, they will be the best people in your life at the time.