Make new friends, sometimes lose the old

BY Spencer Massicot

Going into high school is a big step for most people, and the big changes that come with it may sometimes seem shocking or may not feel right for a while. One major change when moving from middle school to high school is making new friends and letting some old ones go.

One thing that I learned over my first year at Elsinore High School is that you may need to let go of some of your old friends to widen your horizons or be able to make time for people you have gotten closer to.

It doesn’t have to mean that you don’t like them anymore or you don’t like to be around them; it may just be a case of wanting to be open to other people.

While making a change to hanging out with a new group at lunch or walking to class with new people, you will notice that the old friends from middle school that you are truly close with will always be one of the first ones in your mind to hang out with or text; but if new friends are coming before old ones in your mind, the old ones probably weren’t your closest friends.

Losing some old friends has to come from somewhere, and for me it was mainly from being placed in different classes than some of my middle school friends. When you are in a class for a whole year, you will start to meet new people and will start to become closer to them and grow further apart from others. For a lot of people, it is hard to keep your middle school friends as close as they were when you don’t have classes, practices or lunch with them.

However, losing friends is not something to be afraid of, it is something natural that is bound to happen, especially when you are in a heavily social environment like high school.

A sport is a great way to make close personal relationships in high school. Most of my close friends going into sophomore year are on my cross country and track teams. I didn’t even know most of the people on my team before last school year; but when you spend time riding to meets on the bus and hours after school during practice together, it is really hard not to become close.

We are like a family. We all hang out together, we help each other through hard times, and we want each other to succeed. A sport is a great way to make friends and create a family type bond at school. With that said, spending time after school with new people is time that you are spending away from people you have been close with for a longer time.

I would say that freshman and sophomore years are the years that the majority of old friends will be distanced. If you still have some close friends from middle school after 9th and 10th grades, they are probably meant to be in your life and you need to keep them close.

Another way to lose some friends who were very close to you at one point in time is getting caught in drama. The most common drama that I have seen over the past year is not one that would be expected. A lot of people see movies growing up about high school and think that a lot of drama is caused from gossip and bad breakups; but for me, most drama is spurred from some people not being included in activities.

When someone has only a few tickets to go to something or only a certain amount of spots in a car, some people can get their feelings hurt or be confused because they were not invited. In that situation, you just have to be aware of those people’s feelings and don’t try to hide it from them, because chances are, with social media and everyone talking about it, they will find out anyway.

My piece of advice is this: If you really want to stay close with someone, you need to make the effort. If that person is really important to you, you need to text them every once in a while, or go out of your way to stay in touch if you have to.

This may seem a little harsh, but if that friend is worth losing to spend more time with new friends, you might just need to let them go. But that will always be up to you.

If a “friend” is annoying you, being mean to you, taking advantage of you, or just constantly doing something you don’t like, do not be afraid to distance yourself from them.

My mom always tells me that these teenage years are the best years of our lives and we need to surround ourselves with the right people to make them as amazing as we can.