Man, what is the joy of life without friends? From endlessly laughing together to playing pranks on each other, from getting scolded together to being each other’s pillar of constant support, we don’t even realize when our friends become such integral parts of our lives that imagining a life without them seems impossible.
But as life happens, we naturally drift apart. So, if you’ve been missing your friends and are thinking about reaching out to them, you may worry about whether it’ll be just like old times or uncomfortable and awkward. You may wonder whether you’ll have anything to talk about, whether they’ll miss your friendship and want to be friends again, or whether there are any hard feelings. These doubts and questions are only natural. So today’s article discusses everything that you need to know if you’re considering reconnecting with a friend after a long time.
Reasons why it can be awkward:
Reconnecting can be awkward because people change significantly over time, and your reference point for your old friend might be very different from the person they are today. Obviously, people and situations change over time. You might find that your lives have taken radically different paths since you were younger, and it may be a bit difficult to connect with them over your shared past when your present lives are so different. When two people are at different stages of life, it is often tricky to find common ground.
People sometimes take friendships drifting apart personally and put a negative interpretation on the distance in the relationship. For example, they might assume the other person did not like them enough to stay in contact or that they purposely distanced themselves. Sometimes, there are heartbreaks in friendships too, which lead to distance among individuals, so reconciliation is often not so easy. So in cases like these, one needs to be extra careful while trying to reconnect and heal past friendships.
How to reconcile:
Connect via social media:
Since you’ve lost touch with an old friend, we believe the best way to first try contacting them is via social media. Send them a follow request if you haven’t already. Initiate the conversation and try asking about how they’ve been and if they’re interested in catching up with you. Half the awkwardness would vanish at this stage.
Be honest with your intentions:
Only reconnect with an old buddy if you feel like it. If there was any past hurt or grudge involved, let go of it and see things from a fresh perspective. Since we’re remaking a bond that has been weakened over time for whatever reason, a new outlook on things becomes necessary. Because, let’s be honest, when life moves ahead in different directions for everybody, certain things are better off forgotten and moved past. So be very genuine with your intentions and make it clear that you’d miss your buddy and would like to reconnect with them if that’s okay with them as well.
Express your love:
If you’re genuinely happy to connect with your old friend, make it a point to communicate that to them. Be warm and affectionate with them, and let them know how much it means to you. If somebody were to do that for you, you too would feel good to know that there is some genuine care and respect for you, and you’d want to connect with the said person. So do that for your friend, for they would feel the same, and it’s a good way of getting rid of any kind of awkwardness that might be present.
Talk of meeting in the future:
Do not end the meeting with a note or any kind of indication that this was only a one-time meetup. Make sure that your friend knows and feels that you look forward to meeting them and staying connected with them even in the future and that you hope that this rekindled bond will now continue to grow from where it has been reestablished; otherwise, the whole point of this reconciliation becomes meaningless.
Re-establishing a friendship with an old friend can help you strengthen your roots, feel more grounded in your community, and even give you a new perspective on various things in life. Old friends can remind you of the person you used to be and help get you in touch with parts of yourself that you might have forgotten about but that you actually need even now in your present life. Regardless of wherever we go, people don’t really ever move out of our lives, so it is always okay to end things on a good note or start them afresh, based on what you desire and what’s in the best interests of all.
