For 2025, make it a goal to prioritize your personal life and friendships.
Let’s be honest, when work gets busy, our personal life tends to take a backseat, and we neglect our friendships and relationships. We forget to return emails. We bail on plans. And when we do finally hangout, we’re not even fully present, spending most of the time thinking about all the work tasks that are still on our plate.
Of course, work is important, and career goals add purpose and intention to your days, but if you want a life that is rich and rewarding, you have to make an effort to develop meaningful friendships and relationships.
Friendships are vital to your mental and emotional well-being. Our friends make us laugh.They’re there for us when we need to vent, or a shoulder to cry on. They support our dreams, and show up for us in small and big ways. And friendships are good for your physical health as well. Studies show that having friends can improve your mood, lower stress and hypertension, and even boost your immune system.
So, if you want to have a happier and healthier 2025, you would do well to nurture your friendships and relationships. Below are some ideas for friendship goals, from how to be a better friend to making new friends as an adult.
Ideas for friendship goals in 2025
Here are just some of the ways that you can deepen your friendships, connect with new people, and enrich your personal life in 2025.
Make an effort to remember your friends’ birthdays.
In 2025, make it a goal to send your friends and loved ones a personalized birthday greeting.
Thanks to social media, it’s so easy to send a quick message to your friends and loved ones to wish them a happy birthday. Which is why your friend will be so touched when you send them a handwritten card in the mail. Knowing that you made the effort to actually write down a message and drop off their card in the mail will make them feel so special.
Of course, we all have good intentions and hope to send a card in the mail, but never get around to doing it on time. So here’s how to actually remember to send out a card for your friend’s birthday.
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Add birthdays to your online calendar or planner.
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Set a reminder a week before their actual birthday. This way, you can make sure that the card arrives on time.
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Have a stock of greeting cards and stamps on hand. So instead of going out and buying a new card for every birthday, which will only lead to procrastination, always have a supply of cards and stamps at home.
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Send a note, just because. You don’t need a special occasion to tell your friend how much they mean to you.
Remember important dates in your friends’ lives
Along with remembering your friends’ birthdays, it’s also nice to remember the important dates in their lives, like the anniversary of a loved one’s passing or the date of an upcoming medical procedure. Showing up for your friend during tough times will really mean a lot to them. If you’re worried about what to say or how to reach out, you can always send a simple text or a handwritten card letting them know that you’re thinking of them.
Attend social events without feeling the need to network
Maybe you’re trying to get a new business off the ground. Or maybe you’ve been trying to get a promotion or a new job for the past year. With work and career at the forefront of your mind, you might’ve forgotten what it’s like to meet people without thinking about how they might help your career, or wondering who they know.
Don’t worry, all of us have been guilty of prioritizing our professional networks over our personal ones. What matters is that you can start making it a point to make friends with someone just because you want to, and not because you’re hoping to gain something from them. So go to dinner and talk about something other than work. Or go to a party and don’t have your opening line be “so what do you do?” You’ll find that setting some boundaries around your professional life, and hanging out with people for the sake of hanging out, will make you feel more happy and fulfilled.
Make new friends in 2025
As we get older, it seems that we lose touch with friends or that more and more of our friends move away. Suddenly, we find ourselves without a core group of friends to hangout with. Making new friends as an adult seems like a tough challenge–after all, everyone already has their own friend groups and families of their own–but you’ll soon find that many people are in the same boat, and are looking to meet new friends as well.
Here are some ideas for making new friends in the new year:
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Join a running or hiking club. You’ll get in a good workout and meet new people at the same time.
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Take an in-person class like a writing workshop or an art class. A multi-week class will give you more time to get to know your classmates and forge connections.
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Volunteer at an organization. You’ll be doing something good for your community and you’ll meet like-minded people who share your same interests.
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Sign up for a group travel tour. A group tour allows you to sightsee and travel around a new city or country with the camaraderie and security of a group. And sharing exciting adventures with fellow travelers is such a fun and low-pressure way to make new friends.
Ask your friends to set you up. Setting up your friends isn’t just for romantic connection. Ask them to connect you with mutual friends. This is especially helpful if you’ve moved to a new city and don’t know anyone in your area.
Written by JiJi Lee
