Abby Connolly
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.
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