Maintaining Long-Distance Friendships

Meeting new people is a main part of the college experience. You’ll meet people in college who will remain your friends for life. However, just because you make new friends does not mean that you should forget your old friends. Yes, it is difficult to find time during your busy schedule to keep up with friends who are off doing their own things. But you should make it a priority to find the time. Your friends at school probably hear more of your day-to-day stories and they probably get filled in on stuff sooner than the friends you don’t see every week, but make the effort to talk to your other friends too. You can still fill them in on all of the big events going on in your life even if they don’t get the scoop immediately after it happens.

With all of our technology today, there is no excuse not to make time to talk to your friends who are back home or off at other schools. I keep in touch with my friends in different ways. For my friends who don’t like to talk on the phone much, I keep in touch with weekly Facebook messages. It’s like having an old-fashioned pen-pal! For others, I enjoy video-chatting on Skype. The benefit of this is that you can see your friends’ facial expressions (sometimes I enjoy seeing physical reactions to some of my more humorous stories), and you can see friends that you haven’t seen in a long time—such as friends who are out of state. Then, of course you can communicate by text messages. This is a nice way to be able to quickly share a short anecdote or to talk to someone while multitasking.

Whatever technology you choose, don’t forget that the easiest one is picking up the phone and dialing your best friend’s number. No matter how far away you are, how busy you are with work, school, or other friends, you should always make time for your far-away friends. I know that I am fortunate to have maintained really strong friendships with several of my best friends from high school and even some from middle and elementary school.

So send your bestie a quick text to let her know that you miss her, or surprise her by mailing a “thinking of you” card. These things would make anyone smile. Friendships are worth the effort. And remember that old saying, “Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other is gold.”