I need an abstract noun to describe that sensational angst experienced when one fears never seeing someone special again, of losing friends due to geographic displacement. Of losing grasp of fading memories shared. Of relationships wilting, special people moving on with their lives. 

 

“Nillitude,” perhaps.

 

 

 

A   G U I D E

T O

W A N D E R I N G

N O M A D I S M

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s difficult to accurately and fairly describe the longing felt for friends who are far away. The days approaching your departure are filled with rocking between anxious drops of the stomach and nervousness, to desolation at the thought of a friendship not being able to continue its course. 

 

 

 

A river flows and meanders and suddenly encounters a dam, a dam which you had not intended nor wanted to build. 

 

I think it’s wonted to want to mourn these losses, to be anxious at the idea of not seeing people you hold so dear again. For the sake of maintaining personal sanity and emotional stability, I think it’s a fair thing to consider that your life is your life, just as another’s life is their own. One must remember that charge is independent, unless you’re a slave. So it’s necessary to keep in mind that you have to live your life yourself, not through others. Nevertheless, I miss my friends who I’ve left scattered around the earth by my fleeting nomadic youth. If, perhaps, your approach to relationships is like that of a concrete brick, which has none, I suggest the following:

 

Remember and celebrate everything in slow motion. If you fear that your memories may fade, note them in a stylish Moleskine. Be happy and satisfied at having been lucky to have experienced what’s passed. Consider the honour that a group of people had invited you into their lives, and that together you shared ~super awesome times~. 

 

Remember the laughter, remember the handsome smiles. Remember the wanders through markets aside town canals. Remember the dancing, sitting in the back of a cabrio with Miley Cyrus blaring down Torstraße. Remember the intimacy, fast and slow. Reign the anxiousness that bucks in respect of uncertain future contact, because nothing is really certain anyway. Perhaps, to bolster yourself, lightly touch on the fact you have to live your own life, just to have the emotional quarter of your brain chill the fuck out about being close to people. You will have a future with your special crew, if you make it happen. Some people are goats and won’t invite you back into their lives, which is alright, because goats maken’t good company anyway. Seeing those august, honoured friends again after a “social hiatus” is apex. Live your own path - the people who are worthwhile will be there when your paths cross again. Or, you’ll find them somewhere else.