Maintaining healthy, balanced friendships is a relatively tricky concept. If you disagree with me, consider yourself quite fortunate; for a majority of us, though, keeping up friendships isn’t always a walk in the park. Friendships, like relationships, require effort, time, commitment and sacrifice, and at times, staying on par with multiple friendships and friend groups can be challenging.
When we’re younger and still in school, it isn’t overly difficult to maintain friendships as we typically see our friends five days a week while at school. Once we’ve graduated and are young adults, though, it quickly becomes apparent who your true friends are and will remain to be over the course of your life.
I had a conversation with a friend of mine who recently got married and is now expecting their first child with their partner. We were discussing the realities of friendships when you’re a young adult and how common it is to lose friends when we are presented with significant life changes, for example, marriage and/or children.
This friend was telling me how they have lost quite a few lifelong friends over recent years because of the tremendous life changes they’ve recently experienced. They also explained to me how your true, loyal friends become rather apparent early on when we start facing some of these big changes in life, because they’re the ones who stick by you while going through these pretty momentous changes.
What my friend told me really sunk in, and I feel like this is a reality a lot of us young adults are facing in terms of friendships we have had for years. This truth doesn’t make losing friends any easier, but knowing we aren’t alone when facing these losses is comforting in a way.
Your truest friends won’t abandon you once your own life starts falling into place. If anything, they will be there to support you even more than they have prior.
ontheedgeofeverything 