32% of adults aged 50-plus report often or always feeling lonely or isolated. Interestingly, the feeling was higher among people ages 50 to 64 (38%) than those aged 65-plus (24%).

We can blame the middle-aged struggle for friendship on a “season of life,” but friendship is too important to put on the back burner. We must attend to what is proven to be a life-sustaining element of aging.

Collectively, in the past few decades, we have come to believe that to be a human is to belong only and ever to yourself. In this framework of understanding, friendships can be a nice perk of a successful life, but friends can’t demand anything from you that you don’t choose to give.

At any point, if a friendship is holding you back or bringing you down, you can bail, because the only person you owe happiness to is yourself. Research now confirms that is a fallacy, as poet John Donne, famously wrote in 1624, ‘no one is an island.’ We need each other, it’s a scientific fact, so being flexible and gracious are essential attributes to enable our friendships to continue to flourish at any age, especially as we get older.

GFS Perth has been enabling Friendship for almost 140 years. Check our socials or Events Calendar. #FriendshipRevolution