Growing Up and Growing Apart

278- that is the exact number of miles from my front door to Collins Circle. When I first came to UAlbany I was so excited to finally be away from home, away from my parents, and my sometimes annoying little sisters. As a freshman, the biggest downfall of going so far away from home was missing my friends. My group of friends grew up with each other for nearly 6-7 years. I also went to a very small high school and most of my friends went to the same colleges, so they frequently were hanging out and reconnecting; because I was so far I was forced to start over from scratch. At the time I found myself quite sad and alone. I wasn’t the best at making new friends with people I just met. However I was super lucky to meet a group of great people, many of which are still my friends today.

As the semesters went by, friends who I swore I would stay in touch with, slowly drifted apart. What I found was as time went on my friends from back home would get busy and we wouldn’t talk as much. Now we all have some friends that no matter how long you are apart, every time you get together it’s a “friendly-reunion,” but what happens to the other friends; the friends who you were close with and somehow drifted apart?

What happens when you go home and everyone is just different? And you and your friends don’t get along anymore? What happened?

One thing I’ve learned over the past few years is that college is a place of growth, not just in knowledge, but a place of personal growth and development. Let’s be real, “growing pains” are exactly that–painful. It hurts to leave behind someone you considered to be your best friend, someone who you’ve been through alot with but you’re just not the same people anymore.

In life we naturally go through a pruning process. This is when certain things in life metaphorically “die out” and are then replaced with better things.  The pruning of relationships can be a difficult process. Many of us want to hold on to old relationships because of the time spent and memories that we have created. It’s important to acknowledge that the relationship was special, however when you’re moving into a new space of life certain things need to get left behind in order to grow into the new person you want to be.

Bottom Line: Everything happens for a reason, and as you grow you’ll shed old ways of life for adopting new ones. As old things are lost new things will come to replace the old for the better.

Ashley W.
Class of 2017
Major: Social Welfare
Blog/Workshop Theme: Through the Looking Glass
A Look at the Past and Present...

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