With low-maintenance friends, you don’t need to know the ins and outs of their everyday life down to the last detail, but you know the important parts – the things that truly matter. One thing that high-maintenance friends often can’t grasp is boundaries. These types of friendships can become clingy, tension between one another brews and, when you are separated for a while, doubt comes into play. Low-maintenance friendships stay stress-free. Having that one person who you can go months without seeing or talking to, but when you do meet up it’s like no time has passed at all, is a rarity. A special connection. There is a mutual understanding between low-maintenance friends that spending time apart doesn’t mean the love and care for one another has disappeared. If anything, separation and distance is more healthy in a friendship; you respect each other’s space and time. There’s no need for bad blood just because life can become busy.
If anything, separation and distance is more healthy in a friendship; you respect each other’s space and time
It’s not that there is no effort made at all within these types of friendship – a common misconception – but rather there are no pressures and expectations. When you are in touch, it is less out of obligation, your duty as a good friend, but more out of genuine interest. My favouring of low-maintenance friendships is slightly biased as I am often that friend who is notoriously bad at texting. Living far away from a lot of my friends has meant that I hardly get to see them, so I like to think that I have mastered the perfect balance of staying in contact. For me, low-maintenance friendships result in high-quality friendships. You feel completely comfortable being yourself around them and the beauty of your conversations is that it can go from superficial pleasantries into deep discussions – nothing is off-limits. You’re supportive of each other’s successes and remain connected despite being at different stages in your life.
The central idea with these types of friendships is that you don’t need to overthink them. These are friends that will still feel like home regardless of how long it has been. It is crucial for more high-maintenance friends to understand that it really is nothing personal! Sometimes life gets crowded, but that doesn’t mean you have grown apart. Don’t doubt the time and distance, cherish your meaningful meetups, and embrace your low-maintenance friends – after all, they do say absence makes the heart grow fonder!
It is crucial for more high-maintenance friends to understand that it really is nothing personal!