3LOSE YOUR “FRIENDS”

IMPORTANT RELATIONSHIPS ARE BEING TRUMPED BY PEOPLE YOU BARELY KNOW

My life of relative comfort came to a screeching halt the day I shipped off to West Point.

After a tough first semester, I returned home to Texas at the holiday break, eager to experience a bit of “normal” life again. But perhaps because I had never perceived my time as scarce before, I had no internal tools to prioritize how to spend my too-brief winter respite. I said yes to almost every invitation that came my way, regardless of whom it came from or what it involved. I played sports I didn’t really like with people I barely knew, watched movies I can’t remember with distant acquaintances, and ate bland food at mediocre restaurants with people I would never ...

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