The Last Time I Saw My Friends + The Perks of Lowkey Friendships [LOH Contest #198]

Hi, wholesome reader!

This post is my entry for Ladies of Hive Community Contest #198. I decided to pin down my thoughts for this prompt and share it to you.

Many times in adulthood, with a lot of work and little free time, it's good to meet up with our friends. How long has it been since you've shared moments of laughter with your friends?

I strongly agree that meeting with friends is beneficial to one’s well-being, especially when life gets a little busier and more stressful. My friends are what I call my “personal therapists” as they are the ones I can talk to with no hint of judgment at all. I am forever grateful to have my friends as they make life more bearable and more enjoyable to live.

While friends are essential parts of my life, adulthood imposes us to prioritize more important things such as work and/or our responsibilities at home, giving us a challenging time to meet friends frequently. As for me, since the day I started working and considering the fact that work has increasingly become more hectic over the years, I only get to meet with my friends probably every 3 months or so.

The thing about me is — I actually have many circles of friends! But these circles are just small ones. If I were to give a number of my trusted friends, I can say about 10-15 friends, which I know are already a lot and for which, I am grateful. These friends are the ones I have made in my previous workplaces, some are from university, and a few I have maintained friendships with since high school.

So if I were to answer the question “How long has it been since you've shared moments of laughter with your friends?”, my answer would be which circle of friends are we talking about? Haha! But to answer honestly, I just met with a high school friend last week, which I shared in one of my previous posts. We meet up only once in a blue moon to catch up and paint together. With my other friends, I think it has been a month ago or two, and some of them, I haven’t seen since last year.

---

It is true that as we grow older, our friends become smaller in quantity. I believe that it is because as we grow wiser, we get to see which people are worth keeping in life, and which ones are we willing to let go of, in exchange for our peace of mind. I also realized the perks of having low-maintenance friendships. Let me enumerate them and spill my thoughts about it.

Deep Understanding and Mutual Respect

I believe that any friendship is and should be founded in deep understanding and mutual respect. Low-maintenance relationships are built on these as it requires such values to accept the fact that you cannot meet your friends anytime you wanted. Respecting each other’s time and schedule is very crucial as we don’t live for friends alone. I am fortunate enough to have very understanding friends who respect and cherish my available time.

Loyalty and Freedom

Life alone is already stressful enough, that’s why, friendships shouldn’t be! It is liberating to know that most of my friends don’t need constant communications to maintain the friendship. We don’t pressure each other to do this and that, for the sake of our friendship. We understand that we have other things to do as well.

Lowkey friendships foster loyalty and trust. We might not have messaged each other that frequently, but hey, we are still good friends! When our schedules align and get to see each other again, I swear to God, the conversations just keep on flowing and time becomes a concept we are not aware of.

Independence and Personal Growth

Another thing I love about my low-maintenance friendships is that it promotes individuality. It allows me to do my own thing, and reassures me that there’s nothing to worry about losing friends. My friends and I are very supportive with each other’s personal endeavors, and that is something I rarely find in other people. So far, my friends have allowed me to have ample time for me to do things that would benefit my personal growth.

---

Friendships in adulthood are beautiful. Compared to the friends you’ve made in grade school and high school, where you get to see them on a daily basis; you get to see who your true friends are in adulthood especially when other things hinder you from meeting frequently. After all, friendships aren’t measured in the frequency you get to meet up anyway! 😉

---

Thank you for reading my post up to this point. I hope you have a great time ahead!

I'll take delight in writing for you again soon.

Love,
Sam ♡