And since I am a guy

Just using your post as a springboard to get all 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

but I wonder how much of the idea of "women's friendships decay, men's friendships can pick up exactly where they left off" is based on reality.... And how much of it is just a stereotype based on social norms that are no longer true. Y'know, like the idea that "women have naturally better emotional intelligence" (the reality is that most young boys were and on some level still are discouraged from engaging with emotions in general, and it's hard to get good at something with no practice)

I can't even cite personal anecdotal experience as an argument for or against because my friendship group is mostly queer dudes with the occasional transgender chick or enby person.

I'm in my 40s and have multiple long-standing circles of friends going back decades (each with their own group chat). I even made new friends recently through channels other than my existing friends (started going to local fighting game community events).

I definitely feel bad for the people who talk about have very few or even no choose friends and seem to frame it as some kind of inevitability that comes with adulthood. Life without my friends would absolutely be a lot worse.

Why is it sad? It is just modern fact of life that each person is alone.

Same here, not a chat for that many years though

Yeah same here. Turning 30 soon.

I have my group of friends from literally middle school. My circle from college. Small group of friends from my internships, some coworkers I’ve kept in contact with who visit every so often. We all keep in contact. Some more often than others. Sometimes life gets in the way for months/years, sometimes we don’t get along and fight, but we always, ALWAYS make it up in the end, learn from what got us butting heads in the first place, and pick right back up where we left off like it never happened in he first place.

This isn’t meant as a brag or anything; I feel incredibly lucky, fortunate and grateful to be surrounded by so much unconditional love. And I always feel so sad when I see comments from people who are going through life solo. Life is a harsh mistress, and I couldn’t imagine going through it by myself. The relationships I have with others make it much easier.

I know it sounds cliche, but keeping your heart open, understanding that others will be different from you (which means you can always learn something from them), and being forgiving even under the toughest of situations is what powers me each and every day.

If you’re reading this and looking for a sign to change, well this is your sign. Go join the yoga class, keep an open heart with your coworkers, maybe text that friend you haven’t spoken to in years. I’m sure they’d love to hear from you. Life is so much better this way, I promise.