Friends

Last week, I stumbled across “Real Friends” by Kanye West once again. I like to think that TLOP was the album I was in step with the rollout through and through. Whenever these moments of rediscovering music happens, we naturally transport ourselves to the mindset and point in life we were hearing these songs for the first time.

Back in February of 2016, I felt like I was isolated on an island, without any sort of school support network. I had some cool peers in classes, but I never felt like I was going to have that stereotypical HS friend group, where I’d do the same things every week with them. Eventually, I went to find my way, made some wonderful friends, and by the end of my time there, I left confident and proud of the people I cared about. By then, I recognized that the idealism I once carried about friends was far too limiting in the possibilities of making connections with folks you wanted to be in your life. I hoped that irrespective of whatever my time in college would become, I promised myself to ensure that I would do my best to make amazing friends.

I spend too much time at home, away from the chaos of campus and the unnecessary banter, reflecting on every facet of my college life. But the one thing I keep coming back to again and again is how much less challenging and demoralizing my life would be without the friends I have. Forget taking them for granted, I don’t spend much more than a…