Honestly, I hardly remember anything academic from high school. In fact, the majority of the lessons I learned are social in nature.

One such lesson was how truly temporary relationships are. In public school, you may have been pushed into the same circles with the same people solely due to growing up with them. The school district I lived in had a specific feeder pattern, so it was common to go through elementary, middle and high school with the same group of kids. The only caveats were if someone moved or were in between different zip codes, so they could choose with school to go to. This constant presence gave off a false sense of deeper connections if you will.

I remember our senior year; everyone was trying to make plans to stay connected and get together semi-regularly. These plans may have worked out during the summer after graduation, but as soon as the real world began that following Fall, you might has well have fallen off the face of the planet. We no longer texted regularly and the only updates we got were through social media. Obviously, you can still have strong friendships from school, but the social circle will always seem smaller and smaller as time goes on. Such is the way of life.

This revelation made me rather depressed for a long while. Being a sort of loner in school, I never had many friends to begin with, so I genuinely cherished what few relationships I had and even those went their own separate ways. Obviously, I do not blame anybody for focusing on their own lives, however the sudden loneliness can be very debilitating if you are unprepared for it.

Just this past year, my graduating class celebrated our 10-year reunion. Based on all the hullabaloo on social media, I expected a bunch of people to attend and show off their careers and lives. However, per the meager pictures I saw, maybe 20-30 people attended out of a graduating class of almost 600.

My advice for those who are either getting close the graduating or are still in public school: cherish the relationships you have and if you are wanting to continue these relationships after you walk that stage, effort will keep those flames stoked. Otherwise, you are going to have to be comfortable with those relationships being snuffed out.