A lot of the friendships I had throughout high school were one-sided and high maintenance. I struggled to understand why my friends would rather not hang out with me when they were the one that had to initiate plans. Sometimes the reason you're so close to people is only because of their proximity to you. I began to notice that was the way some of my friendships were: we had so many memories together that it seemed simple enough to continue to make them, but there lacked any real substance in the friendship due to a lack of similarities besides location and old stories. The friendships were successful because we conveniently were in the same classes, lived down the street, or were both bored in the city that we lived in.

One-sided friendships began to take a toll on me, and I decided that for the future I needed to make changes when it came to the type of people I befriended in my life. I was warned that my high school friends were just for sake of convenience and that when college came or when the clock suddenly struck and I was officially an 'adult,' the childhood friendships I'd made in high school would fade. Could it be true that my best friends would someday grow up without me? Don't get me wrong, I made a lot of close friends in high school. The best friendships I've had in life have grown from the least expected circumstances. My best high school friendships that have lasted throughout my college experience, which is four and a half hours away from my hometown, have grown because life taught me that you don't need to constantly communicate with your friends to have a strong and healthy friendship. I text my friends from home a few times a week, talk about the past and make plans for the times we know we'll be in the same place. We don't put the friendship on pause specifically but we understand that time is each our own and we rely on the fact that when we are finally together again things will continue the way they always have with our group of friends.In college, I learned that you could befriend people who are entirely different from yourself.

The purpose of college is to find yourself and everyone else around you is also struggling with that same task. People are good at different things and their personalities reflect their skills and interests. I decided to accept people the way they were and picked friends that I felt brought out the best version of myself.

College aided my ability to accept people for the mannerisms they really had and how they reflected themselves, instead of an idealized version of what they believed other people wanted them to be. Life was no longer a series of assigned groups and social expectations that were clear throughout high-school. I saw college as a new beginning to meet people who were nothing like me. Before I attended college, it confused me how people could miss college so much during breaks. I remember being perplexed at the idea that college students would miss their friends from school as much, or what felt like more at times, than their own family. Being a college student, I now understand. College friends become like a family. They are the people you eat with, study with, spend your free time watching Netflix with, working out with, and even sleeping next to and they become your home away from home and family. I've learned that the best type of friends are the ones that I can go months without seeing, but a reunion feels the same way it had felt the last time I saw them. I feel safe with these types of friends in any scenario, even the most reckless. They are the type of people who know what I'm thinking just by looking at the expression on my face and make me laugh the way I used to when I was young and weren't afraid of what people saw while I did.

Some of my friends have gone through struggles that I wouldn't even begin to understand and all I can do to save them from those demons is be there for them with all the support that they've offered me throughout our friendships. If I could give them half of the reassurance and love that they've given me over the years, they would be full. With so many other personal struggles, friendship shouldn't be one of the things that people are constantly worried about.

Long distance friendships can sometimes feel like a long distance relationship, times get difficult when you can't spend time with your favorite people and you have to do activities separate from the people you care about the most. The most important lesson here is that time separated from your friends doesn't make you any less close, besides in distance. You can still dedicate time by being there for your friends, sharing in the laughs, reminiscing in your past, and growing with each other. I am nothing like any of my friends: we each have our own separate path, but growing up doesn't mean growing apart.