It can be extremely challenging to hold on to friendships when you're an adult. I haven't seen two of my closest friends in about three months as sometimes life gets a little complicated and you have to turn your focus onto other things. However my friends and I still kept in touch here and there with a text or two.
Just because you haven't seen your friends for a while doesn't mean you have to break ties completely and move on. It's all about communication and making sure you still want to have that friendship. Having friends is such an amazing thing especially if they are the type of people that support you and give you advice when you need it. That's such an important aspect and you shouldn't let go of that so easily. My friends are extremely supportive and keep me going when times are tough.
I met my two amazing friends, Elise and Helen when I moved to Manchester last year and started working at a pub/restaurant in the summer. It was just a part-time gig and a way to earn some money, but I never thought I would gain such great friends. Most of the people I worked with were a little younger than me and still in college and my managers were a little older than me and had kids so I felt a little out of place and did not think I would fit in as well with my colleagues. To my surprise one evening when the pub was extremely busy I teamed up with one of the girls and we worked so well together and helped each other whenever one of us needed. Another night I worked with one of my managers and she was lovely and asked how I was doing and wanted to actually talk to me as a person rather than an employee which was super refreshing. From then on, I worked most shifts with them and it made going to work so much more enjoyable as we still did our job but had some fun along the way.
After a few months I started applying for other roles and thought that would be the end of our friendship but my manager actually came with me to an interview for a new job, that's how supportive she was. Her first thought wasn't that I was planning on leaving, it was how can I help you do that. This is the type of friendship I felt I had to hold onto. Even though I got the job, we all stayed in contact and hung out whenever we were all free and understood when one or two of us weren't.
We now have a little tradition of trying to see each other at least once at the end of the month (payday) for some shopping, brunch or even just a catch up. This might not happen every month as a result of one of being busy or having another commitment, nevertheless we will always communicate that and stay friends. If you have people in your life that care about you and give you all they can, you should hold onto that!
Our little tradition =
Fin.