#nothinglast

"It's easy to believe that your barkada will stay together forever, or at least until you've graduated college. Making plans of spontaneous beach trips and future weddings seemed so simple when you had your besties by your side, as you put off studying for a test just to sip coffee and bond over the simplest of things. When your laughs are at their loudest and smiles at their widest, the last thing you could think of is losing the people you imagined would be by your side the whole time. Fast forward to two years later: none of you have kept in touch. Whether it be after high school graduation or in the middle of the academic year, your friends will stop walking with you. Before you can even realize what's going on, you're left with nothing but the remains of a quiet group chat with a message from 9 months ago, last seen by everyone you have come to know deeper than mere introductions. Hallway hugs and witty comebacks suddenly turn into casual hellos and timid waves. When worse comes to worst, it's just half smiles and the classic "I don't think we were ever friends" face, the kind you never thought you would receive from people you used to call your best friends. However, you don't need to keep hurting. Instead, accept the number one motto every teenager must learn: "The only permanent thing in this world is change." Not all barkadas are meant to last forever, and that's okay. You are constantly changing as a person, blooming beyond where you are planted, being more than what people think you are. Your ideals will change, and so will theirs. You will all look at high school in different ways; some may want to leave behind every memoir with it, and some may want to see it as a time for growth and improvement of their selves. For whatever reason it may be, you will no longer stay the same people you were when you fangirled over vampire movies with them. You found friendship within the things that defined your personality at a certain age—a personality you have outgrown and left in the embers of your previous self. It's okay to have outgrown people, too. Do not cry over the shattered dreams of sharing a villa on the coast of Puerto Rico with your best buds. Stop reminiscing the "golden days" if all it brings you is pain and longing for the past. Instead, smile at the memories you shared with people you will always hold dear. Thank them for the experience of having people to laugh and cry with, people who accepted you when you couldn't understand yourself. In the end, we must embrace the fact that not everyone we meet is destined to stay in our lives forever. Some of them come in the form of fleeting memories, bringing lessons we could learn only from them. All you can do is be thankful for the memory of being surrounded by great friends, and hold on to the strength they've passed on to you during the timeline of your friendship." © Candy Mag