Adulting, No Thanks
August 19-25, 2019
By Cait Smith
caitlin@dailydata.com
They say once you graduate from high school, you lose contact with all your friends. I didn’t believe this at first until I started noticing my number of friends dwindling down. There were about six of us … then four … and now two (just Autumn and me). But what’s to be sad for, that’s only high school; the real friendships are formed throughout college and into your adulthood.
Some key characteristics I learned about myself while making friends in college was that I’m shy and reserved. But on the other hand I can be so comfortable with someone it’s scary. I typically am attracted to someone’s personality, so when I met my first friend at UCA, Zhane, it was a no-brainer we’d connect. She’s lively yet cool as a cucumber. Had it not been for her, I wouldn’t have made it through my first semester. We live in different cities now, so we don’t talk as much. I hope she’s doing okay.
Companions can be made through friends of friends. Autumn introduced me to her distant cousin while we were attending UCA. Her cousin and I instantly clicked and from then on our friendship blossomed into something I didn’t know existed. They say people connect because of common interest, however, what we had was more than similarities – we were like long lost sisters reunited. Whenever I had a problem she’d be there to fix it; whenever she thought her entire world was over I’d be there to console her.
But as quick as friendships start, they can end. Autumn’s cousin and I are no longer friends due to personal reasons. It took me quite some time to get over it because it felt like a death in the family. The process of deleting photos and videos was a hard one to bare because those were beloved memories. But like my mom said, “There’s no need to dwell on what has been, focus on what will be.” That being said, it was a friendship I don’t regret.
And as one door closes another easil opens. Thanks to social media I find myself making so many acquaintances through the simple exchanges of likes and comments. My newest friend, Zana is a travel junky. She’s been to places I dream about going to: Bolivia, Columbia, and Argentina. I get thrilled when she comes home and tells me all the wild adventures she experienced. As of lately, she has been dying for me to go on one of these crazy trips with her. So after I finally obtain a passport, the tales of Cait and Zana will begin.
I used to be afraid of making new friends because you never know a person’s true intentions. If I continued to live like that, I wouldn’t have made as nearly as many friends as I have today.
