It is said that life is like a rollercoaster. It starts off easy but as soon as it starts, it gets faster and faster until you don't even know what is going on anymore. At some point during the ride you wonder when it is going to end or hope it never does. All the while, you hold on. Holding on is not just something people do when they are descending on a rollercoaster. It is something they do because letting go can be terrifying.
Science proves that the human body is constantly changing. It never remains the same and these changes affect the way we live and feel.
We are literally a different person every day.
This could also be the reason why people never keep the same friends they had in elementary school in high school or the friends from high school in college. Life can be a wonderful and miserable experience at the same time with all the things one has to deal with every day. The most wonderful part is experiencing long-lasting friendships, but sometimes not all friendships can last or should.
Story Time: A New York Minute
A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to spend a weekend with one of my best friends in New York City. She lived in a wealthy area and her apartment was beautiful. I had not seen her for quite some time, and it was such a treat to be able to see her. The moment I got off the subway to give her a hug, I knew things had changed. As I spent time with her, hearing about the adventures and catastrophes she got herself in, I realized that the person I was laughing with was someone I didn't know.
I finally grasped that the girl next to me on my rollercoaster was not familiar to me. This girl who I used to get into crazy adventures with, shared my high school experiences and successes with, and trusted with my life was a stranger. The rollercoaster we were on became a decorous affair. I came to the conclusion above all, that even after seven years of friendship, she was not the same person I met all those years ago.
College, Raging 20s, and the Uncertain Beyond
People say that when you go to college and move away it will be impossible to keep in touch with old friends from high school, and they are completely correct. I am in the minority in this statement because I am still extremely close with the friends I had when I was only 14. But I remember a time where I surrounded myself with people from all walks of life. I am saddened to say that I do not remember what happened to even half of them. If you find that your circle of 10 becomes a circle of three, do not fret. I am sure those friends are wonderful people leading wonderful lives. However, if they cannot ride your rollercoaster smoothly anymore or you find that you are riding alone, you have to let them go.
College is the place where you have the chance to discover the person you never had the courage to be in high school. It is a place of reinvention and risk. Letting go of old friends means that one has chosen to leave a comfort zone that they have lived in for the past 18 to 20 years. It is hard because these people are the people we have confined our hopes, failures, and dreams to.
They know us better than we know ourselves and we know them just the same. The memories we share with these passengers on our own rollercoasters make holding on that much easier and letting go that much harder. As great as those memories are with your friends, sometimes they have to be all you take with you as you go on in life.
Take A Chance
As passengers get on, they also get off and maybe they find that your rollercoaster cannot fit their needs anymore. People change, but so did you. It is ignorantly blissful to try to believe that everything can stay the same infinitely—that you could go away to college and come back to the same family you grew up with and the same friends that sat with you all these years. But growing up also means letting go and knowing when to stop holding on.
The beautiful thing about rollercoasters is that whether you have passengers next to you or even if you are riding alone, it can be one of the best moments of your life. And if you do in fact chose to let go of the handle bar that keeps you from falling down or apart, put your hands up, because for that instant, you are invincible.
