Goodbye is not Forever

I've been saying a lot of goodbyes lately. This is how I feel about it. 

Especially in this young-adult stage of life, people move in and out of each others' lives so quickly. Sometimes people are only together for a semester, a year, the length of a summer job-and then it's time to part ways again. We meet so many people in such a short amount of time, and we never know where life is going to take us next!

It's easy to have regrets once these time periods come to an end. A friend in my ward was saying that it seems like people only really connect at the end of the year, right as everyone's getting ready to leave. People say things like, "Why weren't we friends sooner? Why didn't we hang out more? It's the classic-you don't know what you have until it's gone-mentality.

That really got me thinking. How do we avoid that feeling of regret when it's time to say goodbye?

Here is what I've learned over the last several years of my life:

It is so important to treasure the people you're with right from the start. 

Personally, (and I know I'm not alone in this), I have never been good at goodbyes. I hate endings. I hate the thought of people parting ways and not knowing when they're going to come back together again.

However, I've learned that if you invest everything you can into the people that you're with, no matter how short or long of a time it may be, goodbyes don't have to be sad. You don't have to leave each other with regrets, rather you leave with memories of time well spent. You leave with gratitude for what you taught each other, for the things you experienced together, and for the trust that you built. Those are the relationships that stand the test of time. Those kinds of friendships never really end!

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk in the April 2014 General Conference expressed how I feel about all of this perfectly:

"There seems to be something inside of us that resists endings. Why is this? Because we are made of the stuff of eternity. We are eternal beings, children of the Almighty God, whose name is Endless and who promises eternal blessings without number. Endings are not our destiny.

The more we learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ, the more we realize that endings here in mortality are not endings at all. They are merely interruptions—temporary pauses that one day will seem small compared to the eternal joy awaiting the faithful.
How grateful I am to my Heavenly Father that in His plan there are no true endings, only everlasting beginnings."

Treasure your friends-old and new, and focus on those beginnings.
Goodbye is not forever.