Making friends is one of the most rewarding things about the college experience. While you can look back at school and think of the tasks you undertook and the accomplishments that came as a result, you can also relish in the fact that you experienced it with many other people.

Finding people to relate to is exciting, and finding one person that truly understands you during your time at a university can help ease the blow of fast-approaching deadlines and double-digit page papers.

As the fall semester winds down, many students are preparing for graduation. Getting ready for the ceremony can be hectic as it calls for meticulous planning while remaining focused on the present. It can also be a reflective time as students graduating are thinking about what their time on campus has meant to them.

This organized sense preparation not only applies to the invitations and possible dinner reservations, but also to what is to come after graduating. Some students have to plan far ahead of their current schedules in order to feel confident in their departures.

Graduation is mostly a time of reflection for others. The sense of change that comes with this step in one’s life can be overwhelming, and it is not uncommon to look back on the small things that made school worthwhile, as well as the significant achievements that came with attending in the first place.

Though many students are graduating together, some have friends who will remain in school for a while longer. The pending idea of change that comes with this realization can be emotional for those who spend a lot of time with their friends at school. Some wonder about the future of morphing relationships and differing schedules, but this does not mean that an important friendship has to dissolve.

When a friend graduates before you, it is completely natural to feel a sense of loss at the idea of their absence before they even leave school. Thoughts of the two of you possibly drifting apart can be mentally cumbersome, but it is important not to let the weight of these thoughts devour you.

Some think that a major change in the schedules of those in close relationships means less time seeing each other, and while this is a completely valid worry, it does not have to ring true if both parties play an active role in keeping the friendship alive.

If anything, you’ll have a companion who experiences things before you do and can give you a new perspective on what life will be like after your own departure from college. Turning to your friend for guidance can save you the trouble of going into situations without a sense of how to approach them.

It is very easy to let the idea of change consume you. For many, large life changes are difficult to get used to, and the idea of a staple in your life being different for good can be looming. However, this does not mean that change has to be detrimental.

Friendships can become even stronger after a major transformation in scenery. People who are close often become much closer as they experience more together as time passes.

Considering the possibilities born from change is natural, but actually allowing it to alter your approach to certain things like important relationships is counterproductive. It is important to realize this difference, as it is not always easy to detect.

Sometimes we become so focused on what might happen in the future that we forget about what is happening now. Approaching things as they come can not only bring a new freshness to a friendship that is important to you, but also turn the idea of change into something positive and even exciting.