I’m 26F and for the past few years I’ve felt increasingly unfulfilled and unhappy with my friendships, and I’m wondering if this is common or if something’s wrong with me.
Most of my current friends are the same people I’ve known since I was around 13. We’re a “close” friend group on paper, but I don’t feel emotionally safe with them anymore. I don’t fully trust that they wouldn’t talk badly about me if I left the room, or secretly wish the worst for me, and that feeling has been sitting with me for years.
I also have one close friend outside of the group who I genuinely love and know is a good person, but spending time with her drains me. We don’t really 100% click .. she talks a lot, goes into details I don’t care about, and I end up feeling boring or disconnected when we hang out, even though I care about her deeply.
What I really crave is a female friendship where I actually want to spend time together, where I look forward to hanging out, feel energized, laugh easily, and enjoy just being in each other’s presence. I don’t really have that, and it makes me sad.
The closest I feel to that is with my sisters, but even then I often choose being alone over socializing. I don’t know if I’m introverted, emotionally burnt out, depressed, or just outgrowing people.
Has anyone else experienced this? Outgrowing long-term friends, craving deeper or more aligned friendships, or just feeling low-energy socially in your mid-20s? Did it pass, or did you end up rebuilding your circle later in life?
TL;DR: Mid-20s, outgrowing long-term friends, craving deeper connection, and feeling low energy socially. Is this normal?