| posted on December 7, 2017
I WANT you to hold your hands out right now and count on them how many people in your life you currently consider to be close friends.
Now, I want you to cast your mind back to high school and do the same.
Feeling depressed now that you realise the first number is way lower than the second number?
Not to worry, I felt sad too.
When I was in high school, every second person in my year group was considered a mate.
We knew each other’s histories, what classes we all sucked at, who was kissing who, and the synopsis of what actually happened on Friday night in the pub carpark.
But now?
My friend group is much smaller.
Initially after graduation, my larger-than-life motley crew still hung about together at Midds for a swim, or down at Due South for more than a few pints, or on a random off-track fourby track while waiting to be rescued, but after a while, we stopped seeing each other.
My large group of friends was comprised of a bunch of smaller, closer group of friends, so the big group split into the smaller groups, and the smaller groups closed off to each other or split away completely.
This is inevitable, unfortunately.
People grow up, move away, get over each other and simply can’t be bothered socialising.
It can feel a bit lonely for a while, because you’re so used to having a throng of people wrapped around you like cotton wool everywhere you go, but now?
No cotton wool; exposed like an open wound.
There is a bit of an adjustment period for this, and for me, it was a string of complaints day in, day out, that I never saw anyone and life sucked and I was bored.
But, eventually you have to get over yourself and you start a job and you work for a bit, and you play online games, and chat over Facebook, and eventually, the grass looks a bit greener.
I have met some of the most incredible people since leaving high school, and I feel so lucky to know them.
Some of them are older than me, or are from different areas, so I would never have met them in high school or while in my previous social circles.
One of those friends was across the country a few years ago!
And now, that friend and I don’t let any major or minor event in our lives slip by without telling the other, and it is great fun.
The point of me telling you this is because I wish someone had told me when I first left high school, that hey, guess what?
High school friends going their own way isn’t the end of the world.
You will start new friend circles without even realising.
Once you start a job, some of your colleagues may become mates.
Don’t be afraid to ask if they want to go to the movies with you, or grab a drink after work.
Being friends with your colleagues makes each day less dragging, so go for it!
The old friend from primary school who messaged you the other day trying to reconnect, why not message back?
Give it a shot.
Friends come and go in your life, sometimes in the most unexpected ways and from the most unexpected places.
I mean, come on, I’m an ASHS girl through and through, and one of my closest friends is an ex-GSG kid, so if I can break impossible barriers, you can too!
