6 Ways to Maintain Female Friendships As You Get Older
Written by: Cora Gold
Good friends will be there for all your ups and downs, from your first crushes to your first heartbreak, your first grown-up job, your wedding and the birth of your children. However, it may sometimes feel like time and distance create a wedge between you and your best gal pals.
Having close friends is critical in adulthood. Here’s why you should prioritize socializing as you age and ways to maintain your closest female friendships.
Why Do Grown-Ups Need Friends?
Quality friends also improve your self-esteem and help you adopt healthier habits, such as reaching your weight loss goals. Other research highlights how social support prevents cognitive decline and boosts neural performance in areas such as memory, reasoning, and attention. The effects strengthen the brain to stave off memory loss.
Of course, it isn’t easy to make new friends as an adult — studies show it takes 40-60 hours for acquaintances in the first six weeks to become the kind of friends you hang out with casually. Deepening those connections takes another three months or 164 hours of quality time. Therefore, maintaining the friends you have is crucial to reap the benefits.
6 Ways to Keep Your Friend Spirals Close
Aside from the health advantages, close friendships make you feel good overall — it’s nice to spend time with strong, supportive female friends when you want to have fun or life takes unexpected turns. These six strategies will help you stay close to your girls as you get older.
Plan an Annual Girls’ Trip
As you age, you and your friends may end up in different parts of the world. However, you can close the gap with an annual girl’s trip. Explore somewhere new or take a long weekend to reconnect. A yearly trip delivers numerous opportunities for fun activities and memories you can cherish forever.
Send Letters and Packages
It’s always nice to receive a handwritten letter in the mail — some call it one of the lost arts of communication. While it isn’t as efficient as an email or text message, the effort will hold more meaning for your friends and create a unique keepsake.
You might even send packaged goods for holidays and birthdays. For example, have someone in the group pick a theme for holiday ornaments each year and try to find your friends the most unique decoration.
Hold Monthly Virtual Gatherings
Video conferencing became popular during COVID-19 lockdowns, enabling face-to-face communication without the risk of spreading the virus. All age groups benefited from virtual interactions. For example, university students felt less lonely when connected to their peers during online learning, while virtual support groups helped others with depression.
If you live far away from your best friends, why not keep up with virtual meetings and hold a monthly get-together online? You can even have everyone show up with their favorite cocktail or play games.
Plan Monthly Dinner Parties
Monthly dinner parties are an excellent way to bond with your girlfriends in adulthood. Busy lives leave less time for meeting regularly, so breaking bread will let everyone come together and catch up. Ask your friends to each contribute to the meal or bring their favorite wine. You could come up with a theme or allow everyone to take turns hosting at their home.
Take a Class Together
Invite your girlfriends to take a class with you, whether a sip-and-paint event or a cooking class. These activities encourage you to create something special together and cultivate memories. Your town’s recreation center may even have seasonal adult classes you can select from or commit to a weekly fitness class together.
Show Up
Everyone faces challenges, but good friends know they can rely on one another to support each other. When the going gets tough, be sure to show up as emotional support. There’s no better way to demonstrate your love for your girlfriends than to be present and a good listener. As you age, these types of friends become more valuable to you than ever before.
Cherish Your Lifelong Female Friends
Little acts of kindness and exciting plans go a long way in maintaining friends in adulthood. Make an effort to stay connected to keep your friendships going strong. Your female friends are among your most important relationships and deserve your attention.