Fewer Friends In Your 30s – Why It Could Be Better
Fewer friends in your 30s.
This might sound strange but having fewer friends may be a great thing for you in your 30s! I know I know, that is pretty weird. After all, I’m sure you’re used to wanting as many friends as possible in your earlier days. Being the Queen Bee or King of Popularity was a goal for many of you.
But now that you are in your 30s, things are different. Having a bunch of friends isn’t necessarily conductive for your lifestyle. Chances are, you’re a busy person that’s occupied with your career or your immediate family. Unless you have unlimited time on your hands like you did when you were younger, your time is probably limited with your friends.
So the obvious answer would be that having fewer friends is the solution. But is that really true? That’s what we are going to talk about today!
In this post, I’ll go over having fewer friends in your 30s and whether it’s a good idea or not. I’ll discuss the pros and cons of having only a few select friends, and help you decide if it’s right for you. Even in your 30s, you want to keep these things in mind.
Without further ado, let’s get started!
The advantages of having fewer friends in your 30s
At least from my experience, there are quite a few advantages when it comes to having fewer friends in your 30s.
The biggest advantage in my opinion is that having fewer friends is easier to manage. You might think it’s easy to have a bunch of friends on WhatsApp or Facebook is easy to manage; just message them every now and then, and you’re good. But your real friends, you need to actually talk and see them! Imagine trying to do with the amount of Facebook friends you currently have. Trying to go out with hundreds of friends, definitely not possible!
But even if you had say, more than 20 real friends, that in itself is pretty difficult to manage and maintain. You simply wouldn’t have the time to see them all on a weekly or even monthly basis. But when you have only 2-3 close friends to think about, then that becomes a lot easier to manage friendships. You can easily see them in-person occasionally.
Another big advantage of having fewer friends; you can easily share your secrets and personal life. Doing this is not something you want to do when you have a lot of friends. But when you only have a few friends in your circle, then you have less to worry about. I know when I have a lot of friends in my circle, I have to be careful with what I say, especially if the friends are connected with each other. So when you have fewer friends, you don’t need to worry too much about this.
Lastly, having fewer friends is generally less stressful. Dealing with less people is simply less things you have to think about. Like it or not, you’re going to have good moments, as well as bad moments with friends. If you have a lot of friends, these issues will only multiply, even if you and your friends get along very well. So by having less friends to deal with, you will have less stress to deal with.
Alright, let’s talk about….
The disadvantages of having fewer friends in your 30s
In my opinion, the biggest disadvantage of having fewer friends is the lack of perspective. What do I mean by that? Having a bunch of friends allows to have different ideas and opinions from a variety of people. But when you only have a few friends, then your perspective may be limited, especially if they all have the same opinions and thoughts. For lack of a better word, it can be a “circle jerk” of the same beliefs and opinions. And while that’s fine for the most part, I also believe you should have an open mind to different ideas and opinions. It’s hard to have this when you only have a few friends in your circle.
Another disadvantage is that if you lose any of these few friends, it’s going to take longer to potentially replace them. Ironically, this can actually be MORE time consuming when you have less friends, when you need to find new ones. When you have a lot of friends and some of them are no longer your friends because they move out or they change (click here to read why friendships end), you have other friends you can fall back on. But when you only have a few friends and they are out of your life, then you’ll have no choice but to go out and find new ones.
Lastly, having only a few friends is simply less fun! Everyone is different in their own way, and when you have lots of friends to see and interact with, you’ll end up having a variety of experiences. But when you have only a few friends, then it may end up being the same experiences and same conversations each time you see them. Nothing wrong with that, but if you want more variety, then having more friends will be beneficial in this situation.
Conclusion
I hope you found this post informative. There is no right or wrong answer when it comes to having fewer friends in your 30s. It really depends on your preferences, your personality and the amount of time you have to dedicate to your friends. For me personally, I like to have a good amount of friends. Not just 2-3 close friends, but a little more than that to keep things diverse. I certainly don’t have the time to have dozens of close friends, so I try to keep a balance. Hopefully this post clarifies how many close friends is right for you!
If you have any questions or feedback, leave them in the comments below!
