Summary: It is important to put effort into the friendships that you know are most important and learn from them. Learn to appreciate the time you have together.
This past weekend I celebrated my 27th birthday, and when it came to deciding who to call and invite, the people I reached out to this year were very different from the year before. This got me thinking about how friends come and go throughout our lives, more often than not because we change rather than any sort of falling out.
We may stay in touch with older friends, but often we grow apart – whether through interests, jobs, moving cities or simply moving neighborhoods. Of course there are those certain friends who you’ll keep in touch with and visit often for most of your life – the ones that saw you through your awkward years, the ones you survived high school with, the ones that you called and cried to when college wasn’t what you imagined it to be.
But the friends you make in the adult world, well, often they come and go throughout your twenties because that’s the time you discover who you are, and by realizing who you are, what you stand for and what you’re interested in, you find the people with common ground, the people you want to “do” life with day in and day out.
I don’t know if my friends now will cycle back out some day, but I do know that they are perfect for me right now – right in this stage of my life. So don’t worry if people grow apart or lose touch – put effort into the friendships that you know are most important and just keep in mind those you’ve grown apart from – learning from them and appreciating the time you had together.
Do you find that your friends change as you change?