After high school, the people you have grown and spent most of your life with will go their separate ways. Change happens when everyone is growing. That’s all right, but sometimes it is hard to keep those relationships going. While in college, you will probably make new friends and have a busy schedule, but if you want to sustain friendships from the past, it is important to make an effort.
Stay in touch
With a busy college schedule, it is hard to stay in touch with those we care about. It was so easy in high school, because you saw each other every day. Even if you do not send a text or call that person every day, make sure to listen and ask questions about how he or she is doing. If you both care about how the other is doing, that friendship will continue.
Share the important stuff
Friends want to know about the important things in your life, good or bad. If it is good, like getting the internship you wanted, a friend will be happy for you. If it is bad, like bombing a test, that friend will be there to pick you up. In college, our lives are crazy and changing. We have to remember that our friends are going through the same things and they will be there to relate.
Get together
Try to set aside time to hang out. Maybe you live too far away to get together, but you could plan to Skype each other once in a while. While on break, attempt to see each other. You may not be able to visit that person, wherever he or she might be, but try to when there is an opportunity.
College is a time of growth and figuring out who you really are. Your true friends will be the ones who stand by your side through it all. Sometimes you have to make new friends, because others were not the right people for you to have in your circle and that is OK. When maintaining a friendship it is important for both parties to give effort, so the other feels appreciated. Friendships are hard and they can be even harder to keep throughout these major changes in our lives. Just remember your friends are changing, too.
Mikayla Jankowski is a business administration major and communication minor at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
