How much did you change from high school to college?

You will change, and you won't. It really depends. I have never been very good at making friends and that has never changed. College didn't change it, life after college didn't change it...that said I am much more confident than I ever was in high school. I am like a completely different person in many ways than I was a decade ago at age 19. But I am still me. Still quite socially awkward, introverted, and nervous when meeting new people. The difference is...I've stopped worrying about it as much. Supposedly, making friends in college is easy. But will that friendship last? Most liklely, no. Once school is over, life begins, and everyone gets way too busy. Friends stop to matter as much it seems to most people, everyone drifts apart, you see people less and less. Friends are this super important thing in high school and college, and yet after all of that no one cares anymore. Too focused on their careers and goals and romances and kids to bother wasting weekends with their buddies. At first, it hurts, but eventually you get used to it and not care anymore. For those of us who have always struggled to make friends, in a way, it can be a relief. "Weird, no one else has friends anymore either..."

While I am sure this might not be true for everyone, it is for almost every person I know. There are loads of adults in their 20s, 30, 40s complaining to their online friends about how impossible it is to make friends locally, or how all their old friends never keep in touch anymore.

If I could do college over, I'd have spent less time worrying about making friends with the people who ditched me once college was over...and focus more on my education, future goals, and family...because those are what everyone begins focusing on once they have that degree.

/r/CasualConversation Thread