Cultivating Friendships Over a Lifetime

Friendships change throughout the course of our lives. As children, it seems like friendships are much easier to initiate than as adults. Friendships grow easily with shared experiences. 

When we are kids, we are put into the same environment and mutual situations as entire classrooms of peers, whereas in our adult lives, people live separate lives and have fewer shared experiences than they did when they were younger.

As our experiences diverge, creating closer relationships becomes more challenging. 

This is why creating opportunities for shared experiences has such a huge impact on our friendships and intimate relationships. We become closer the more common experiences we share. 

It’s why choosing to show up for each other is important – if we don’t make the time to be together, even if it is virtually online at the same time – we stop having anything to talk about or agree upon. We no longer have shared memories.

As adults, we are fortunate that we have had time to decide what we truly enjoy and want to spend time doing, and hopefully find others who equally appreciate the same activities we do. Once we are in charge of our lives, we are no longer at the whim of whatever after-school activity fits our parents’ schedules or going to the class we were assigned to rather than where we wish we could go.

The best relationships have withstood arguments and strife and overcome that together. The people who are there for us in our most difficult moments are the ones we have put time and love towards as well.

Prioritizing friendships leads to a whole host of benefits that even resonate into our physical health. It’s OK to inconvenience ourselves to spend time with others, because what we get back in return is so much more than the effort we put in. It’s great to enjoy our relationships with each other and bring more joy into the world. 

What would bring you a lot of delight and joy, and who could you share that with today?