Relationships are an important part of life so it’s only natural that we seek out relationships with others from a young age. Most people have this idea that you meet a good group of friends in school, eventually start dating by a certain age and enter adulthood with a good social life.
I mean, it seems like that’s how it is for everyone else right? But not everyone has strong friendships during their teenage years and not everyone is ready for romantic relationships or meeting people they’d like to be in a relationship with.
You might not have any strong friendships in school or college and you might not have any friends at all. This is okay, it may understandably impact your mental health because feeling isolated from your peers isn’t good but there are ways to meet people or seek social support.
Although it seems like everyone else has friends and no one else is lonely, that isn’t true. There are other people who are also seeking friendships because they’ve either lost touch with friends or don’t have any strong friendships in the first place.
You might not have strong friendships until adulthood, it can take time to find your people but when you do, you’ll know and you’ll be better for it. The same goes for romantic relationships, you might see other people your age finding love and developing serious relationships but everyone goes at their own pace. When you meet someone who is worthy of you you’ll be glad you didn’t settle for less.
I promise you’re not the only person your age who feels isolated and feels like they don’t have any strong relationships with people their age. I met lots of people online who are isolated and don’t have any true friends or a good support system.
Through organisations I’ve also met other young adults in person who are in the same position and need social support. It can be hard opening up about being socially isolated at a young age because there seems to be a stigma around being lonely at a young age and everyone assumes young people have good friends and have been dating or are in a relationship.
I can tell you from experience that worrying about your relationships with other people does not help your mental health, sometimes people will leave your life and it will hurt but you’ll meet other people.
I currently have a great group of friends that i didn’t meet until my early 20s, we have lots in common, I can really be myself around them (even when i feel like i’m being annoying) and I truly trust them more than I’ve ever trusted friends before.
I was isolated during my later teenage years but I spent that time working on myself and focusing on my own mental health and although I missed having that social life that everyone else my age seemed to have, I wouldn’t change my experience.
I needed time to grow as a person and if I had settled for friends that I didn’t actually have a close trusting relationship with just so I wouldn’t be alone. Then I probably wouldn’t have met the friends I have today or known my own worth.
It’s important to focus on having a good relationship with yourself rather than over focusing on your relationships with others. It’s harder to have good strong relationships with others if you have a bad relationship with yourself.
So be kind to yourself and work on developing a healthy relationship with yourself because you are the most important person in your life.