Two years ago, when I arrived on campus on move-in day at the beginning of Wildcat Week, I only really knew a handful of people at ACU, my high school girlfriend at the time and a couple of people who had gone to high school with us.

On move-in day, I walked into “old” Mabee Hall, where I was given the keys to room 343. After I moved all my things into my room and my parents had left, I went to dinner at Chili’s with my girlfriend, her roommate and her boyfriend and one of our friends from high school.

After dinner, I met my Wildcat Week group. During the week, I talked to the people in my group, but none of them were people I hung out with. More so, the people you see walking towards you on the sidewalk from a distance and must decide at what distance it is acceptable to wave.

I talked with the people who lived in my hall; after all, we did brush our teeth next to each other every morning and night, but the same situation as before.

As you know, most friend groups form during the first few weeks, and my group was no different.

Our group had nine people at first, and we would go to Chapel, where we sat in section 106 of Moody Coliseum. Then, directly after, we would go to the Bean and sit on the right side most of the time in the “big booth,” as we called it. We would usually study in the library after lunch at one of the long tables upstairs. We watched movies and played games in the Bullock third-floor common area.

After the first few months, the group started to drift apart, and by the end of the semester, it was down to six of us who were consistently hanging out. At the beginning of the spring semester, one of them dropped out during the second week.

So now, the group was down to five people. During the spring semester, the five of us would spend time together nearly every day. We would still go to Chapel and sit in section 106, then go to the Bean, and usually end the night by hanging out in someone’s dorm room.

At the end of the school year, the five of us were still close, but the only person I saw from the group during the summer was my girlfriend. When we came back from summer break, everything was normal, and we were all hanging out just like we used to, until my girlfriend and I broke up.

I tried to still hang out with the group, but it wasn’t the same anymore. They heard how it happened from her and not my side of the story. Sure, I was to blame for some things, but it was not solely my fault; but they didn’t see it like that. I eventually stopped even trying to hang out with the other members of the group.

I still waved to them and said hi in passing, but after a couple of months, even that stopped. It was a strange feeling seeing the people you thought at one point you would be friends with for a long time walk by and not say anything to them.

It was a turning point for me; nearly everything I had known at ACU up to that point was gone. I was almost starting from scratch again. It was a hard couple of months as I navigated the struggle of finding a new friend group as an introvert who tends to be socially awkward when meeting new people.

Over time, it got better, as most things do. I started hanging out with new friends towards the end of the semester and continued meeting new people in the spring semester. By the end of the school year, I looked back and realized how much I had grown from the beginning of the year when I lost my friends.

Now looking back a year later, in a strange way, I would say I’m grateful to have the experience of losing my friend group. It helped me grow and mature in a way that I probably wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.

Losing your friend group isn’t an ideal situation for anyone, but instead of seeing it as a roadblock, view it as an opportunity to step out of your comfort zone, meet new people and experience different things.