Reconnecting with Old Friends

You connect with many people during your life, some for a reason, some for a season and some forever. Sometimes, you may wish to reconnect with the old friends you have not seen for years. Thanks to the internet, doing so is easier than ever. Our life and our memories are very much defined by the people we are with, and so rekindling old connections can bring you a lot of joy and contentment in also reconnecting with your older self.

Our lives move very quickly in the modern world, and so we can often lose track of old friends as we move into new circles and new cities. However, as we get older, we realise how much the people we met and the connections we formed are what led us on this path, and looking back and reconnecting with these people feel like coming “full circle.”

Recently, I was lucky enough to reconnect with an old university friend from Canada who I hadn’t spoken with in years. Out of luck, we got in touch and had a lovely chat about how much our lives had changed and how much we had changed since our days at university. It was such a beautiful feeling to talk to her again as it brought forward a wealth of memories and feelings from my past.

I’ve often found that my own worries and thoughts have held me back from reaching out to old friends. I always wonder if they’d remember me, or if they’d changed too much since I last spoke with them and this often stopped me from interacting with people from my past. However, I’m always positively surprised by their reactions, as they always bring positivity and are themselves very excited about reconnecting with me. It’s this positive feedback that keeps me going.

I recently sent some stories I’d written to my best friend from school, with whom I’d lost touch with a couple of years ago. To my surprise, she emailed me back almost immediately! She told me how shocked and excited she was to see my name in her inbox and it felt so good to hear how much joy she had felt when she heard from me after all those years. We updated each other on our lives and she’s promised to read through some of my stories and give me her feedback.

I’ve had several experiences in re-connecting with old friends and it has brought so much love and nostalgia into my life. We often forget how much of an impact our friends and colleagues have on us over the years and how important it is to nurture these relationships. We are who we are largely because of the community around us, which is why working to maintain and recreate this community can be such a fulfilling experience.

Reconnecting with the old people in your life is extremely valuable, no matter how long it has been. It gives you a sense of joy and contentment that is often hard to find and to replicate.

Just as novelist Marcel Proust put it so pertinently, “Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”