Starting freshman year of high school can be difficult in more ways than imaginable. As newcomers learn to adjust to the humongous new building and challenging classes, some also end up losing friends. 

Whether friends end up distancing themselves or one turns out to be a bad influence, it can end up distorting your view on life.

Losing friends challenges you to walk by yourself in the hallways or sit alone in crowds, which is typically stereotyped as “being a loner.” 

But, what many fail to realize is staying away from the wrong crowd is more beneficial than falling into it just to fit in.

Isolating yourself from a crowd can help you create a greater reality for yourself and eventually, attract the right people into your life. 

Regardless of the morality of a person, they are bound to struggle with toxic friendships or relationships and the difficulty of leaving them behind. 

While adjusting to these new changes, you will come to the conclusion that your surroundings can either make or break you. 

For instance, the people you eat lunch with or decide to open up to could be deteriorating your confidence or influencing you to follow after their rebellious ideas. 

If you allow these people to have more control over your life than you do, they’ll end up leading you to a dead end.

Regardless, you can make the decision to change that. 

You may not be able to change their hearts, but you have the choice to either listen or shut their noise out. 

If you decide on the second option, you can better understand what you need to do in order to grow into the best version of yourself.

Unfortunately, it’s easier said than done. 

You can still love someone who’s done wrong to you. 

So, it’s important to remember that your life doesn’t revolve around them. Risking it and taking a leap of faith can be difficult. 

Maybe leaving them behind isn’t your biggest fear, but more of what others will think of you.

A sense of worry and overthinking may come when you decide to distance yourself and ultimately cut them off. Thoughts of how others will perceive you might frighten you as well. 

But, keep in mind that your life isn’t about pleasing people. 

Your life is about whatever you make it to be; whether that includes graduating as class valedictorian or owning a cute, little bakery one day. 

And as you create this life for yourself, good people will come along to make the process easier. 

There will be people who notice the effort you’re putting into your goals and be interested in supporting you throughout your journey.

But despite what comes and goes, we’re all blessed with the opportunity to create a life for ourselves. The biggest mistake you can make is to let other people do it for you. 

So, sometimes, a little isolation is necessary for you to hear what your heart desires and from there on out, create a more fulfilling life from it.