Call us sentimental, but we spilled some tea over coffee the other day and talked about adult friendships.
Having friends as an adult is more weird than you think. If you have a group of people who you hang out with and those people are not (a) your spouse and their friends (b) your workmates or (c) people you “know” online, then guess what: you are weird.
Not weird in a bad way. Weird, as in not average. Weird as in exceptional. Weird as in you don’t statistically fit into twenty-twenty-six first world society. Good weird.
I’ve read in numerous places that there is a friendship collapse in the modern western world, particularly among men. At least here, in the middle of nowhere Canada, ask a guy who his best (and often) only friend is, and he’ll mention his spouse or a sibling. People don’t have as many friends anymore.
Meeting up for two hour long post-run coffees with people not out of obligation, but because the coffee-part is the highlight of the meetup, as in “we could just skip the run and go for coffee” (which we all joke about but have only actually done once… and the weather was fekking icepops) that is weird.
Adults, sadly, don’t have a lot of friends. Adult men have statistically, basically, no friends.
My running club has filled that gap in my life, and here’s the sentimental part, I don’t know what I’d do if it went away. I don’t know how I’d find that kind of social group back.
If you have friends, count yourself lucky, and weird.
If not, might I suggest that you go for a run.
Definitions
- advice
- This is NOT an advice site. I write for entertainment only. Please see my note on advice in my page called "Some Notes" in the menu at the top of each page.
- august
- In the month of August where I live summer peaks and the days are often relatively hot (in the high 20s or low 30s) muggy, smokey and dry. Rain is infrequent, but when it arrives it comes in the form of drenching downpours and epic thunderstorms. We begin our runs earlier in the day because the local marathon runs late in the month and our training distances are maxing.
- Canadian
- I write this blog from a small city in the middle of the Canadian prairies. It means I use terms like kilometres and celsius and you're just gonna need to deal with that. I run four seasons long, from blisteringly hot summers through icy cold winters. I've encountered moose, beavers, and snakes on our trails. And we're proud of it all.
- october
- Fully into autumn, October is a month of shifting seasons, short days, long shadows, and gorgeous sunsets. The cobwebs are hung on the eaves in preparation for halloween, and here in Canada we're running off Thanksgiving dinner for a couple weeks after a proper good meal mid-month.
- september
- The days are noticeably shorter when we realize that September is upon us. The post-summer routine kicks in and people are back to regular work schedules and kids are back in school. It can still be warm, but the hottest days are behind us and most of the biggest races of the year are in the rear view. We savour September knowing winter is too soon to come.
