The People Who Come and Go

Who did you say goodbye to this year? Who came along?

It seems inevitable to lose people — friends, lovers, and even family members. As much as this hurts, I try to believe that it makes room for the better people who will come along later and are meant to stay in your life.

Only some people treat you right. Therefore, those who are unkind going their separate ways are not a loss. You might be better off without the people from your past, whether you see it now or realize it down the road.

When something ends, something else begins

I keep experiencing this. As 2022 is coming to an end, I have been reflecting on everything that happened this year, including a significant event that involved me finally standing up for myself after years of mistreatment from my high school friends. I cut ties and I am better off!

For most of my life, I held onto inauthentic friendships because I had no one else. At this point, I have made new friends and I no longer need the ones who were toxic. Either way, I think I would have been strong enough to walk away from them. Being alone is better than having bad company.

I feel like I am successfully creating my chosen family

I have always yearned for this. After experiencing one devastating friendship breakup after another and failure to meet anyone genuine, I gave up on it. I figured since it did not happen in grade school or college, it would never happen. I am thrilled I was wrong about that; it happened!

I have a work best friend. I met another close friend through Bumble BFF. I reconnected with a woman I went to high school with and while we never spoke to each other then, we have a solid friendship now. I connected with a couple of women through Meetup. It is really good to have good friends.

My social life in 2022

The beginning of the year started off slow. I went back into my journals and realized that I did not attend any social outings until April. It took me over three months to meet up with any friends! In April and May, I went to my first three Meetup events. I had a blast. This really opened up my social life.

Also in May, I formed a connection with my work best friend. We began talking and I went to the dinner she had when she left our old job. I ended up following her and now we are still working together for a better company. We continued to hang out throughout the rest of the year as well.

Last year, I matched with a woman on Bumble BFF and we became friends quickly. However, we both do not drive, so it took us one year to start getting together in person. We finally were able to this summer and we have done multiple double dates, wine tasting, and paint and sip together.

Additionally, I saw my friend who I vaguely knew in high school two different times, which is pretty good for us, as we tend to be busy and do not get together often. I do not recall us seeing each other at all last year!

My 2023 friendship goals

2022 was a solid year for me socially. I hope to keep it up in 2023. I want to maintain the same goal I had for the later months of the year of having at least one social outing per month. This way, I am prioritizing my friends, but I am not overwhelming myself and can still focus on everything else.

I am going to hold the friendships I have close, although I am still open to making new friends too. I am not forcing connections anymore though.

When something ends, something else begins, and I will be okay.

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Love always, Brianna Stryker.