deactivate?

[Katmandu]

Part of what you are experiencing is a natural pulling away and changing--after all, if you are maturing, you should have different priorities and interests as a 21 year old, than you did as an 18 year old.

As a junior and especially as a senior, my interests were not primarily fraternity mixers, pomping homecoming floats and rush skits--although I had truly loved all of those activities. By second semester of Jr. year, I was more focused on my major, campus activities and grad school applications. I began to spend more time with professors and students in my major, and a bit less time with my sorority sisters. My best friends from the chapter were married, student teaching, or had already graduated, and I didn't know many of the newer members well.

However, my last two years of sorority life were two of my most rewarding, and I would have missed a big chunk of what it meant to be in a sorority if I had ended it there.

Just as I looked up to the older girls in the house as a pledge and new initiate, I was shocked to realize that some of the new members were looking up to me. I began to spend time with a handful of them, serving as an informal "big sis" (you can never have too many!). They would drag me to a party when they thought I was becoming too serious, and I nagged them about making grades. Their excitement about initiation, fraternity guys, and "greek stuff" was contagious and fun. I ended up rooming with three of them when they moved into the house their sophomore year and my senior year, because it was more fun to be with them than on the quieter Senior Wing.

After college, I was not involved as an alum until about 30 years later, but now serve as a chapter advisor. I would NEVER have predicted that, but you never know what life is going to bring you.

If you are truly not interested, then turn in your pin.

But if you are feeling lonely and like a "stranger in a strange land" because your friends are gone and you are growing in different ways, then know that it is a natural feeling that you can help heal by adopting some new members and letting new people into your life, even if you think you already have enough friends. The new members need older members to support them, and you need them to remind you of why you joined in the first place.

Good luck with the rest of the semester!