Somewhere recently I read something about making friends as an adult. It went something along the lines of “it used to be easy to make friends. You saw someone on the playground and asked if you could swing with them and 20 minutes later, you were friends. But somewhere along the way, we lost that ability to instantly connect with people”. Note: I’ll edit this once I remember/find the article I was reading.
This really got me thinking about my own friendships and inner circle. I can see why this quote resonated with so many people but personally I think it’s BS. It may be simpler to connect with people when we were children but I don’t think that we lose that ability ever in our lives. It can also happen just as quickly. Haven’t you ever met someone and instantly been drawn to them or connected?
That being said, I don’t have any childhood friends that I’m still close to. Most of those relationships ended naturally with us growing as people and therefore growing apart. I’m also not friends with anyone I went to school with anymore. Once that chapter of my life ended, so did most of those friendships. It kinda makes sense. What do you have in common other than sitting in the same English class?
My deep and longest-lasting friendships have all started through ballet. Some from when I was in my pre-professional program during high school, some from my time dancing in NYC. Blogging has also brought me a tight group of girlfriends who are in my inner circle. These photos today are with one of my first and oldest blogging friends, Megan.
We met online, both reading the others blog when we were taking pictures with old iPhones and simple point-and-shoot cameras. I actually was cleaning some old files a few months ago and saw some of her comments on some of my first ever blog posts. Now she’s getting married and I have a baby; where have the years gone!
Both blogging and ballet have been my version of asking if I could swing with them. Both are activities, which later became careers, of my own choosing. It’s actually kind of funny to me that both of these activities helped me find some of my closest friends since both industries are extremely competitive and not really known for nurturing healthy relationships.
What do you think about making friends as an adult? Easy it easy? Are you more intentional with making friends than you were as a kid? Let me know.
Again I’m sorry I can’t find the original quote and article that started my whole thought process. I’ll dig around in my browsing history and link it here once I find it
Until next time,
Ana Luiza
We took these photos last summer with Karya Schanilec
