Let’s flashback to high school quick. Remember when you considered everyone your bestfriend? And when you slipped “I love you” into the end of every text convo, no matter who the person was? Those were the days – NOT!

Since then, it may feel as though you have been “spring cleaning” through your list of friends. At this point in time, your inner circle has probably shrunk to a mere 8 people (or even fewer). But no worries, because that is 100% OK.

Losing some of the people you did along the way was more than likely for the best.

In the moment when they were a part of your life, you probably considered them your “forever friends.” And you most likely assumed they were going to be sticking around forever – how ironic, right? However, life would have disagreed. Unfortunately, those friends were only meant to be a filler for that moment in time.

Life had a plan for you to meet your true forever friends further down the line.

These fillers were (and are) so important. They were people that taught you lessons and helped you become the individual that you are today. After spending such a big chunk of your existence with them, you were able to learn just what you didn’t need in your life. And no, this is not meant in a bad way either. I am sure some of those people were AMAZING, but they just weren’t a necessity that you had to keep forever.

Without their presence, you wouldn’t have fit into the shoes you are in now. There were decisions that were made with these individuals and experiences that will be held for a lifetime. And as a result of these occurrences, you have stumbled upon the career, family, and newer friends that you acquire today.

This is where you are supposed to be.

Sometimes the fall-outs were messy — maybe even messier than breaking up with your boyfriend Junior year. The heartache throbbed and missing them was dreadful, but there was a reason that it all happened. You can now consider yourself a stronger and more independent individual after making such a big leap. And, now you have room for newer and more important people in your life.

If you never let go of your “fillers,” the best friends you carry so close today wouldn’t be around. Do you think you could really live without them? I know for a fact that I could not. These new people that are a part of your journey are not another one of those fillers, instead they are your soulmates. They are the people you were supposed to be with all along. And that is why you lost so many people along the way.

Without the lost, you wouldn’t have gotten the found.

But don’t think for a second that the people that have stuck around the entire time do not matter. The friends that were never meant to be lost are some of the most important individuals in your lives. They are the ones that prove consistency and trust. They are the ones that you share the deepest and heaviest experiences with, and they are meant to be around for the long run.

These people are the ones that were meant to be kept, and they are just as much your soul mates as the newly found friends.

As you can see, without the loss of not-so-important individuals, you wouldn’t have been blessed with the life you live today. There are reasons people get left behind. You just have to know that it’s OK and let it be.