• Dec 23, 2024

I want to be friends with you

As we get older, making new social connections can take a bit of courage and maintaining existing friendships takes time and effort. So let's talk about friendship strategy. How do you form new friendships in adulthood, genuine, meaningful, comfortable friendships, not just friendly acquaintances, and once you make these friends, how do you keep friendships alive?

In our younger years, large amounts of time with people (proximity) encouraged us to make friends. Some people seem to be able to maintain friendships easily, even later in life.

The ABC Life Matters program explored making friends especially later in life. One caller used the term "crossed over", where an aquaintance becomes a friend. The idea being at a certain point the relationship "crossed over" to something more meaningful.

According to the latest census data, 27.6% of the population of Australia were born overseas. This makes for a difficult scenario for some people who have had to leave their friendship network.

Friendships and Marriage

Psychotherapist Zoë Krupka, commented about the notion of couples being friends with other couples where everone likes each other-:

"that is not a common thing - when that happens the universe has blessed you, so you don't have to make friends with a couple"

A marriage breakup and friendships are tricky to navigate.

Sources

ABC RN Life Matters - A guide to making (and keeping) friends in later life https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/lifematters/adult-friendships/104536320