Low-Maintenance Friendships Can Be Key For Busy Lives, But Here’s How To Keep Your Connection Healthy, Even During Hectic Adulthood
Have you ever heard the term ‘low-maintenance friend?’
It sounds a little offensive or perhaps like something you wouldn’t want, but I promise it’s not bad.
When we were younger, still in school, without full-time jobs and other adult responsibilities to navigate, we could dedicate a lot more time to our friends. It was easier to pick up the phone and call your friend late at night to vent or listen to them vent. We had much more time to make last-minute plans to do random things with our friends.
However, once you start getting older and embracing adulthood, maintaining those super close, more complex friendships becomes more difficult. That’s when a lot of friendships begin to transition into low-maintenance friendships.
Low-maintenance friends are good friends in your life that you don’t have to text or see every single day to maintain your connection and relationship. They’re someone who won’t get offended if you don’t text them back right away or see them more than twice a month and vice versa. Why? It’s because they realize you’re busy, and they’re busy too.
There’s something beautiful about low-maintenance friendships, as there’s a sweet, unspoken bond that you have with them, where you both acknowledge that even if you can’t physically see each other or get in touch as much as you’d like, you still love and care for each other.
However, some risks come with low-maintenance friendships. There’s always the chance that because you’re not in the habit of texting, calling, or seeing them all the time, you could forget to reach out or slowly lose all contact with them.
Plus, you may have friends who aren’t as comfortable with the idea of a low-maintenance friendship and want you around more often, an instance where you’ll have to gently set some boundaries.
But once you have a routine with your low-maintenance friendships, they benefit those with extra busy lives.
rh2010 – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual people
If you’re reading this and already thinking of a few people with whom you have a low-maintenance friendship, here are some tips for healthily maintaining them.
Show up for the big stuff
Aside from making an effort to see this friend occasionally, it’s important to show up for the milestones and big events in their lives. For instance, if you don’t live far from them and get invited to their birthday celebrations, go! If they have an important work-related event you’re invited to, go!
It’s important to be there for the big moments or important events in our friends’ lives, as it’s one of the best ways to show them how much you care.
Find easy ways to spend time with them.
If this friend lives nearby but you’re struggling to find time to spend with them due to a busy schedule, try to do more low-key activities with them. Not every reunion with them has to be a big night out with drinks and the works.
Instead, ask them to walk around the neighborhood with you while you walk your dog. Maybe they’d even want to go grocery shopping or attend a workout class with you.
These activities are the things you have to do anyway, so why not ask your friend to join you?
Don’t forget your long-distance buddies
After my college graduation in New York, my best friend, who was my roommate in school, moved back to her hometown in California, and I was a nervous wreck about us losing touch. However, we made it work, thanks to modern technology.
No, you don’t have to text your friends every day, but if you have a low-maintenance friend who lives far away, you have to at least text or call them occasionally. One phone call or FaceTime session every two weeks makes a big difference in how close your relationship will be.
That’s usually a perfect length of in-between time to learn about what’s new in their life and inform them on what’s going on with you.
Be available to help
Finally, you should let your low-maintenance friend know that even if you don’t talk daily or see each other often, you’re always there for them if you need them. Because, after all, that’s what friends are for. They exist so we can help each other navigate life and our challenges.
If your friend, especially your low-maintenance friend, expresses that they’re going through a really hard time, that likely means they could really use some help or a shoulder to cry on. If you have to cancel something every once in a while to be there for that person, do it because they’d probably do it for you.
Friendships are an extremely important part of life, even if they aren’t like what you see in the movies! Now that you’ve made it to the end of this article, shoot that low-maintenance friend a quick text and see how they’re doing.
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