Sometimes, you hear such solid, simple advice that it seems like a waste not to pass it along. Such advice appeared on Wednesday on the podcast Happier, which is hosted by the author Gretchen Rubin and her TV writer sister, Elizabeth Craft. In the episode, the sisters proposed a modest solution to the ever-present problem of making friends when you reach adulthood: Instead of focusing on making new friends, what if you tried to revive a dormant one?
By “dormant,” they mean friendships that have faded for some reason other than a falling out. Maybe the two of you were in a running group that has since disbanded, or maybe it’s someone you knew (and always really liked) at a former job. Rubin, for example, was in a gym that made her think of an old friend who was on the diving team in college; she snapped a picture, added a simple “Thinking of you!” and sent it to her pal. And with that, a three-second message breathed some new life into an old friendship. It can be hard to make new friends as an adult, but maybe it doesn’t have to be that hard.