Like it or not, once you get to college, a lot of things change. You're living in a new place, you have new teachers and a new environment and new responsibilities, and maybe even some new friends. With all of these changes, sometimes it may seem like you can't handle it all.
When you get to college, you'll realize that some of your closest friends from home may have only been friends with you for convenience. But you'll also learn that some of your best friends growing up really will remain your best friends, and your relationship can withstand any stretch of time. Some of the people that you spent so much time with will go on to have their own new friends and lives, but they will keep you close and do everything possible to make sure that you're a part of it. (Hello, Skyping while eating soup and talking to our floor mates in a group conversation.) However, some people that you thought would always care about you and be there for you all of a sudden go ghost, and you're left with no idea why.
It'll be hard to reach them, and you'll feel like every time you're talking to them, their mind is drifting towards something else. Maybe their new responsibilities or their new friends or something of that sort. And you'll try - you'll try so hard - to keep them close and to have them remain an important part of your life, but the simple fact of the matter is that they just don't want you to be as big of a part in their own lives anymore. Even worse, some of them may not leave a place for you in their new lives at all.
And yeah, in case you were wondering, it'll hurt. It'll hurt really badly, mainly because these were people that you spent all of your time with and thought you were forever friends, and it turns out that they're so concerned with their new lives and their new friends that they don't take much time to value the past and those that have been a part of their lives for much longer than these new friends. And it's life. And that's how these things go. You'll come home to visit and some friends will go out of their way to arrange a lunch date or a get-together, and others will be so impossible to reach that by the third or fourth time you're home visiting, you'll stop trying to get even a few seconds of their time. For every amazing hometown friend that sticks by you, there's probably one that will drift away.
However, it isn't all bad. Although some of your closest friends may be drifting far away from you, friends that you were never super close with will start to bond with you more and more, replacing that friendship whose loss you were mourning. Sometimes you'll even sit there and think to yourself, "Why wasn't I closer with this person in high school?" You'll start to see all of the amazing intricacies in some people that you had never seen before. (And yes, you'll feel a little bit guilty about that at first, for taking so long to notice.)
It's not impossible to remain friends with people you were close with in high school. In fact, it's the opposite -- it's incredibly possible if you're willing to try and work for it. However, that's the stipulation -- once you get to college and there's actual, physical distance between you and your friends, you'll realize that some people aren't willing to work for your friendship. And it'll suck, and you'll be left wondering what you did wrong, but then you'll come to terms with the fact that you didn't do anything wrong. You tried your hardest, but the other person just wasn't biting.
And instead of lamenting over that fact and feeling sorry for yourself and the friendship that once was, you'll start to bond not only with fellow classmates and people who live on campus with you, but also with old high school friends that you maybe weren't as close with back then -- along with your amazing high school best friends who have remained by your side, and you by theirs. And before you know it, you'll have this crazy and awesome blend of new friends that like you and old friends that are willing to stick by you.
And slowly but surely, you'll realize that you're better off without the people who didn't leave a place for you.
