Graduation comes and goes, and everything seems to stay the same. It's summer, just like it has been every year before. You keep in touch with your friends and promise college will not pull you apart. However, fall comes. Instead of going back to the same routine and seeing each other everyday again, everyone heads off to their own college or job. Now, you are probably lucky to get to see your friends once or twice a month. As time goes on, you have less and less time to spend together. People tell you that your friends will change and slip away, but you don't believe it. Everyone begins to meet new people to hangout with, and everyone gets busy with school, jobs, and activities. You begin to grow up and turn into a young adult. Your opinions and thoughts will begin to mature as you experience life post-high school. Things you once enjoyed will no longer interest you, and new hobbies will begin to develop.

This will cause a lot of strain on your relationships. Your friends will change as well, and this will cause you to feel like strangers when you are together. Some of your friends will mature in ways similar to you, and you will be able to create a new friendship. However, some of your friends will take much, much longer to grow up than you. They will keep their childish ways from high school. You will try to keep your friendship, and at first you will revert back to your old self. This will soon begin to disgust you because you will see how immature you were acting in high school. This will cause you to try and act like your new, young adult self. Sometimes, this can work, but most of the time this will cause major problems in the friendship. Your old friends won't understand why you are acting different. The friendship will inevitably come to an end, and you will feel like it's your fault for changing. This is not true. You did exactly what you were supposed to do. You grew up.

Everyone has to grow up eventually. It's OK to change after high school. Don't let anyone tell you differently. Don't let those to afraid to embrace adulthood make you feel like you are doing something wrong. Your life is changing for the better. Loosing friends is a part of growing up. You will go from having a large group of friends to just a few, but these few will always be there for you. Quality over quantity right? Even though you will hangout with your friends less because you are all busy with your lives, you will all be there for each other for the important moments. Don't mourn the loss of your high school friends. Remember the good times you had with them, and be thankful that you now have friends who can be happy for you instead of jealous.

Be thankful you now have friends who will be proud of you instead of compete with you. In high school it seems like life is a competition, but after graduation you will realize that this isn't true. Life is just about being yourself, being happy, and surrounding yourself with good people.