Hi Iman,
Many of my friends are graduating this spring but I still have another year. I'm afraid we’re going to drift apart as they start their adult lives while I’m still fighting for my life on WorkDay Student. How do I cope with my friends leaving UBC?
— Sad Super Senior
I know exactly how you feel, Sad Super Senior. Graduation season is weird, especially as you see some of your peers graduate and move away. Friends and opps alike cross the stage, and it has got me thinking: Damn, I'm going to miss these people.
A bunch of my friends I started my degree with are graduating this year and moving on — whether that’s from UBC all the way to Kits or across the country (or theworld). As much as I’m upset that I won’t get another on-campus happy hour, another coffee walk (or milk walk) between classes or another movie night in Marine Drive with them, I’m so happy to have even been able to experience those moments with them in the first place.
People grow up. People move. People grow closer, and people grow apart. That’s life, and it sucks! But it doesn’t have to. Odds are, your friends are just as afraid of drifting away as you are, so spend extra time with your friends before they move, celebrate their graduation with them, set up a standing time for a weekly FaceTime call — make an active effort to include them in your life though you might be apart.
University is a time of rapid change and self-exploration. You and your friends found each other in the chaos of exams, breakups, papers, makeups, a global pandemic and everything in between. And that’s beautiful.
Eventually, you’ll cross the stage, parchment in hand and you’ll join your friends on the other side of convocation. But until then, keep trucking along.
You’re doing great. Keep it up!
Need advice? Send questions to advice@ubyssey.ca, or submit anonymously at ubyssey.ca/pages/advice.
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