As human beings, we are very social creatures. Yes, some of us are more introverted than others and enjoy our alone time, but we all need community to get through both daily life and when things get tough. With “busy” being the operative word in today’s culture, many of us struggle to maintain quality friendships in our lives and are left wondering what in the world happened to all my friends?
Creating and maintaining friendships takes work, just like a relationship with your significant other. To help you keep yourself surrounded by a good community, here are five tips to maintaining better friendships:
1. Show up in person. While social media can be great, there’s nothing better than face to face contact. Next time you’re invited to a holiday party, a housewarming party, a birthday event, etc., make the effort to show up and be present. It will mean a lot to the host or guest of honor, and even if you can’t stay long, the effort and facetime will go a long way.
2. Create or join a group. We all have a certain interest in life, whether it’s skiing, hiking, knitting, reading or being an entrepreneur. Rather than pursuing these things alone, find a group of people who have the same interests. Not only will you be interested in the conversation, but you’ll probably learn something and make some networking connections as well.
3. Send people things that remind you of them. Do you ever come across an article online and think of someone? Take a few seconds and send it to them with a little note: “remember when…” or “this made me think of you…” Going out of your way to let someone know you thought of them can really strengthen any relationship.
4. Use social media. Sure, the internet isn’t always the best way to build a true and deep friendship, but if your friends live across the country, it’s the perfect way to stay in touch. Leave a comment on a post that they’ve written or send a quick message to ask them how they’re doing. You can even use social media to find new friends in your area - just search for local groups or use local hashtags.
5. Be okay with having different types of friendships. Not all of your friendships will be “ride or die” style relationships, and that’s okay. It’s a good thing to have different types of friends because we are all multi-faceted people. Maybe you have a couple friends who you’ve known since you were kids that you would do anything for, but you also have friends that you go running with, or that one acquaintance that you invite to networking events because they always make you feel more comfortable. Having different types of friends takes the pressure off of any one friendship and allows you to better enjoy the time you spend together.
