What do 15 years of friendship look like?
As the saying goes, friendships come and go; the question is who stays? Friendships can develop along with you and also outgrow you. If you have friends who stick with you for 10 to 15 years or longer, you’re lucky. But what do 15 years of friendship look like?
“Catch up tayo soon!”
Not everyone has the gift of having a friend who will have your back and support you when you need it.
In contrast to familial relationships, friendships are special in that our friends are the people we choose to spend time with, just as we choose them to be with us. Furthermore, they lack a formal structure, unlike other voluntary relationships like marriage and romantic relationships. For example, you wouldn’t go months without speaking to or seeing your significant other (ideally), but you might go that long without getting in touch with a friend. And we can simply be crazy among our friends, have fun, and be free and sometimes we share stuff as well just to them that other people close to us don’t know.
But the truth is as we get older, life moves faster, people’s priorities and obligations change, and friendships are affected—often regrettably for the worse, but also sometimes for the better.
The time spent together
If you’re anything like me, who has known a friend since childhood, you’re probably aware that the time we spend with them doesn’t appear to be the same anymore.
Our responsibilities and priorities change as we enter adulthood. We have to juggle our social life outside of that group, our personal lives, college, our careers, and other obligations. The good news is that some friendships continue to exist even though it may be a while before you see each other again. They support you from a distance and are only a phone call away.
Maturity in friendships
In a long-term friendship, maturity actually develops in both you and your friends.
The significant changes in our lives—including those in our opinions, beliefs, interests, and personalities—might have an impact on our relationships with our friends. But lasting friendships usually involve individuals who are more generous, patient, aware of their boundaries, and good at effective communication.
This is because they are already familiar with and are aware of the right and appropriate approaches because of how long they have known each other and the depth of their relationships.
Your circles can change
Your circle may change as you mature, whether it be as a result of an unintentional split or an intentional decision to cut off friendships.
In long-term friendships, people come and go, and it’s okay if you outgrow friendships. We’ve all experienced that at some point. By the time they are young adults, people are typically a little more assured in themselves, and more likely to look for friends who match their views, beliefs, and everything in their personalities and interests.
This commonly happens once we start college or begin our careers when we are given a bit more freedom.
It’s also the beginning of us developing our own identities, ideologies, and perspectives on the world. It’s saddening to have to decide that a friendship is no longer motivating for you. But it’s crucial to accept who you and your friends have developed into as individuals. Furthermore, it’s critical to face the fact that everyone develops at their own pace, and there is no right or wrong way for it to go.
A close friendship develops into love over time
Everyone desires deep friendship. God made us social and emotional beings; as such, we thrive in fulfilling relationships.
Overall, we are fortunate to have a friend who sticks by us all our lives. The fact that some people have been friends for 25 to 30 years, or nearly their whole lives, is something to be appreciated for. Having been friends for a long time also means that even though things have changed over the years, our strong connections to one another and the memories we have created together may actually stay forever.
