During quarantine, there was plenty of time to think about everything going on around us. Losing contact with family and friends, being alone, and having realizations about people, despite having time apart from them. You lost some friends and got closer with some people.

“I stopped being friends with ten people,” said sophomore Rhegan Caldwell.

“I got a stronger relationship with some people, but I also lost a lot of friends. Because I feel like being isolated for so long kinda just made me realize who really was my friend and who really wasn’t,” said junior Stephany Luevanos.

We wouldn’t see our closest friends for weeks or months. It’s been a year since we’ve seen some friends, because quarantine started almost a year ago. You start to have realizations about people. You realized they did some things that you moved past from, but you never really stopped and thought if it was really ok or not. 

“Old stuff came back to my mind cause I had time to think and realized I didn’t get over it like I thought I did,” Caldwell said.

When you look past everything and decide to give them a second chance or not, there are sometimes things you can forgive and forget.  

“I don’t want to be friends with them at this point.” said Caldwell.

A person can be toxic and you can look past everything just because you don’t want to lose them as a friend. You want to keep them in your life. No matter the circumstance. However, after time apart, you start to think “I can live my life without them.”

“They have always been like that. Quarantine just gave me more time to think about it.” Caldwell said.

Losing friends, especially people you thought you would be friends with forever, hurts. But you know it’s for the better.

“Yeah because I was really close with them, and I told them a lot. I thought they would always be there and then we just stopped talking. It really was an eye opener, not everyone will be there all the time, sometimes you have to rely on yourself” Luevanos said.

Quarantine really affected friendships in a good and bad way. Some people made new friends and really got to know one another.

 “I became closer with people I never thought I would be friends with and really got to know them,” Luevanos said.

If you had problems in the past, you realize how much happier you are without them in your life. Or just that the friendship was good while it lasted and it needed some time apart to see if it was real or not. 

“I was always sad when I was friends with her; now that I’m not, I’m a lot happier.” Caldwell said.