Growing up is one of the hardest things about life. You’re thrown into the world and are forced to figure out how to survive, while simultaneously dealing with the day-to day-battles that work hard to knock you down. One of the ways we survive the harsh realities of life is by creating bonds with people. However, those people we form relationships with aren’t always meant to be in your life forever. Growing up comes with the hard truth that people will come and go from your life, and you will do the same to others.
When you are little, your friends and family are everything to you. They are the ones who pick you up when you are down and tell you everything is going to be alright. As a child, you have the false belief that a girl you met on the playground when you were five years old will be the same girl who is the maid of honor at your wedding. As you get older and experience the realities of life, you learn that this is not always true.
Not every person we meet and form a close bond or relationship with is meant to be a permanent in your life. Growing up and growing apart is a very real thing, but it isn’t always bad. At each point in peoples' lives, they find others who fulfill the needs they have at that time. As people and circumstances change, someone who was once a staple in your life may grow to be nothing more than an acquaintance or a face in an old photograph. Just because you grow apart from someone does not necessarily mean that you no longer care about them, or that they don’t have a special place in your heart. It just means that they are no longer what you need.
It is OK if a friend moves away and you don’t talk to them as much as you had originally planned. It's OK if someone who was once your best friend is now just another face you pass in the halls. Growing apart from people is a part of growing up. Every year you change, and the people around you change. It is not feasible that every person you knew when you were two years old would still be a compatible friend for you when you are twenty.
I am alright with the fact that there are people from my past who I no longer speak to. Some I lost touch with because of distance, others were because the relationship was unhealthy or that our personalities no longer mixed well. It is sad that they are no longer in my life, but I’m happy that they were at some point, even if it was only for a day, because they have helped me to become the person I am now. Not everything is meant to have a long lifespan. Some things burn bright and fast, and then die out quicker than you thought possible.
Grow apart from people if you feel it is healthiest for you, but never forget that they helped make you who you are.
