I made a commitment at the start of this year to reinvest in friendships and mental health. After putting most of my social life on the backburner for the last year, I became very unsatisfied and sad about the struggling state of my social life. I missed having a solid group of friends within my nearby community that I could invest in and grow with. I missed having a group of friends to set up a Friday game night.
So I nervously reached out to an actor friend of mine (since I usually don’t initiate hangouts). Thankfully, he was down to hang out. We went on a hike in the Sonoran desert. We had some pretty good conversations about friendships and mental health that I wanted to share with you.
A beautiful hike on a beautiful day
We did this hike. The day couldn’t have been better. Clear skies, barely any wind, mid 60’s, and barely any people on the trail.
While we hiked, we had some great conversations about our current lives, career, and acting. Fun fact is that my friend and I are both engineers that have an interest in acting! The conversations were so engaging that there times where I wasn’t even soaking in the amazing views or the gorgeous weather. I took some pictures just to show ya!
As a small random fact, those cacti are Saguaros. They are only native to Arizona. Some can grow up to 25 arms. Imagine if you just accidentally mountain biked yourself into a 25 arm cactus. Oof.
After we hiked, we got some brunch and furthered bonded over Conan, who happened to be both our favorite late night host. Shoutout to Conan. My friend was the first person I met outside of college that shared the same liking for Conan.
After our meal, we thought it’d be great to hang out more outside of class. We’re planning some game and trivia nights with some other friends from acting class!
The difficulty of friendships
As I’m getting older, one of the things I’m learning about friendship is that it’s harder to maintain. It’s definitely not like it was in college where everybody was close to each other and had more free time. Most of my friends are getting married, having kids, pursuing different careers, or moving to other cities. So it definitely takes more time and work to make a friendship work.
The benefits of friendships
But if you can make a friendship work and last, I think it’s one of the best things you can have in life. Having somebody you know you can rely on when things are difficult is comforting. There are times when I know that my head would’ve exploded if I didn’t have a friend to talk to about the difficulties of career change or relationships.
Having friends you can invest in and share this life with is fulfilling. I feel like being able to be there for them when times are tough is an honor. At the same time, being with them during the fun parts of life like traveling is very exciting. So if you have friends that have brought joy and meaning to your life, you know the importance of friendship for mental health and life.
Finding time for friends
As I am reinvesting in my friendships, I want to encourage you to do the same. Haven’t reached out to that friend you’ve been meaning to catch up with? Shoot them a small text or give them a quick call and plan a little something. Haven’t socialized or hung out with people in a while? Ask one person to hang out with if you’re that one on one type person. Maybe ask several! Don’t need to make it super big.
