Dear Helen,

Friendships are like perennial rivers that never stop flowing. It is possible that as you move forward in your life you will lose touch with many of your past friends. But you will gain new friends in that phase of your life. Also, you can reconnect with your old friends anytime. Distance does not matter much if you want to maintain a friendship. Checking in on them once in a while would do the trick.

Also, at some point in your life, you will realize that you need to have only a few friends who can be there in your hard and good times. I personally made a lot of friends/acquaintances until I was in college. As I transitioned into a work environment, I made work colleagues who lost regular touch when you changed your job. However, when I look back, there were a few people from each phase who stuck and I am in touch with them even today. Whenever I visit their city, I always try to meet them. Once in a while we plan a trip to some location.

So my advice to you would be to keep yourself open to any friendships for now. You will get acquainted with new people from different backgrounds/cities in your case, and you will also lose touch with many people over time. Find the people with whom you can connect and keep in touch with them as you move away to different cities or different phases of life. Please don’t be afraid of anything.