college years have gone past, and the few you bonded with, the ones you spent days and nights with have changed cities, moved continents. 
you are left behind here, and they struggle there to build what you shared together in the endless nights, and unending days. 
or it seemed like that. 
but it was over. and it seems irreplaceable. they seem irreplaceable. 
how can it ever be the same again?
how can you ever share the same again? 
be able to make sense of unspoken words?
how will anyone ever understand again? 

as life takes over, you let yourself sink into your work, 
as physical distances grow, you can’t seem to make the same connections,
the conversations they don’t even come that easy now. 
And so you give up trying. 
you smile at those you see, never really talking,
nothing beyond the banter, and the days go by. 
they become months. meals get lonelier, but the phone doesn’t let you know. 
behind the screens you seem connected, only you haven’t been hugged the way you once were, in such a long time. 
real conversations, laughter that made your tummy hurt, your eyes swell up, 
that doesn’t happen anymore. 

loneliness is real. 
step out, look up, smile, say hello. 
if not for you, for the person in front of you.
ask them something you never have. 
tell them an incident you never shared before. 
reach out. connect. 
it won’t be the same as what you shared with another, ever. 
why should it be?
this is a new you. you are different too. 

let a new conversation happen. 
allow new people into your space. 
let it happen. 
let it be different. 
let it be awkward. 

so today,        

  greet a stranger with a smile. 

          ask someone if they need help with a task. 

          go upto a neighbour, a colleague, someone you see regularly but have never       
          spoken to and ask them what they do? 

          call a friend or acquaintance that you know is in town, connect over coffee, beer  
          or even a meal. 

          recommend a book or ask for one. If not a book, maybe music, games, even a 
          restaurant or a place to hangout. 

          join a random class, people who trek, paint, do city walks, something that seems 
          weirdly interesting or intriguing. 

          and each time you meet someone, take your face off the device, look into their  
          eyes and keep it real. 

it may not be a forever, 
it can still be worthwhile.