Keep Your Friends Close: Friendships Are Essential Relationships As You Age
April 10, 2024
No doubt you know by now that social engagement is critical for healthy aging and that friendships can be some of the most important and rewarding relationships in your life as you get older. Through no fault of your own, however, friendships can fizzle and fray, or perhaps even disappear,…
Proximity and Purpose: How To Foster Intergenerational Friendships
November 29, 2023
Though it’s not uncommon for older adults to live their later years in age-segregated communities, either by choice or by necessity, there’s also something to be said about mixing it up with younger people. In fact, the concept of an intergenerational friendship- that is, having a friend who is at…
Tending And Mending: Figuring Out Friendships In Your Later Years
August 2, 2023
It’s no secret that friendships– perhaps even more than romantic or family relationships- are critical for keeping yourself healthy, both physically and mentally, as you move on into your later years. But as we’ve also previously said, friendships typically just don’t happen- they require effort, intention, and even active pursuit…
New Friends: The Work Of Finding and Nurturing Friendships
January 4, 2023
The writer Paolo Coelho once wrote, “Friendship isn’t a big thing—it’s a million little things.” The value of friendships throughout your life, but especially as you get on in years, is truly underestimated. Both your physical and mental health benefit when friends are an integral part of your life, not…
An Essential Connection: The Critical Importance Of Friendships
July 13, 2022
The Roman statesman Cicero once said, “Life is nothing without friendship.” For most of us, that statement rings true, even if we may not always live up to its promise. There are so many “involuntary” (yet important) relationships in our lives: our family, and our work colleagues, for example, and…
Best Of Friends: Rekindling Old Friendships And Developing New Ones
February 9, 2022
It was nobody’s fault. We were all put under the same constraints. When the pandemic began, none of us had the option of continuing our normal lives: We could no longer meet up with friends, engage in social activities, or join community programs. And while some maintained connections in the…