Friendships in Adulthood

As the months roll into years and lives become increasingly demanding, it is hard to find time to spend with friends. The week is full up with school run times, working, walking the dog and making dinner the weekends aren’t any easier with various kids’ activities squeezed in between the housework and the food shop. It's exhausting just thinking about it. Making time to enjoy the company of your family can seem hard enough so its no wonder that keeping friendships thriving is such a tricky task. (Plus, no one’s free until June 2024!).

School Friends 

Many of your girl-friends you may have met in school. These are the pals that have been there through each relationship break-up, job change, questionable hairstyle, and dodgy outfit choice. These are the friends that have been there through thick and thin (maybe literally seeing as our metabolism slows down as we age) but the ones who know you extremely well and always have your back. Some of you might have moved away, some might be married with or without kids whilst others are working hard to climb the career ladder. This can mean that these are the friends that it might take the most effort to meet up with, but, when you do it's like being back in the school hall at lunchtime again with a tear rolling-belly laughter and so much to catch up on the conversation just flows. You can reconnect with the old you, the young and carefree version that hung with these chicks before life happened to you all. It’s a nostalgic feeling that can lighten the darkest of moods.   

Technology can play a part here in trying to keep you all in touch. A group chat will bring daily banter, a space to share photos, ask advice and everyone is in the same place for when you try to fix dates to get together (albeit a night out might be too tricky, a BBQ with partners and kids might just work). A trip to the spa, however, allows you all to disconnect from the outside world for a few precious hours and you will all feel refreshed and rejuvenated ready to face the world again.  

Work Friends

These are a different breed altogether. You spend a considerable amount of time at work so if you are lucky enough to make friends there it can help to brighten your working day. Stresses of home life are often dissected and mulled over with your work friends which means you can return home with (hopefully) a refreshed outlook. You might find that you end up sharing (or oversharing as the case may be) so much with work friends purely due to how often you get to see them (and get paid at the same time) Its not really much of a surprise that making friends at work is so common, because you are likely to have similar interests as these people which has landed you all there in the first place.  

Keeping these friendships interesting is the key here as you are already spending time with them. Making plans away from the office will enable you to enjoy each others company without that pesky business of work getting in the way! 


Mum Friends 

If you have children, you will probably have ‘mum-friends’. These are the ladies who know what you are going through daily when it comes to parenthood. These women don’t judge you when they see you at the local shop in your pj's topping up the tea and sugar, they help with school or nursery drop-offs and they will be at kids birthday parties with you drinking coffee and eating leftover sandwiches during pass the parcel or at baby group comparing notes on sleep and poop (the babies or yours, it’s all hot topic). Meeting up with these ladies is great, but is always a mission with little ones in tow. You barely get to say two words to each other without dashing off to wipe a face or kiss a boo-boo. However hectic it can be its lovely to meet up with mum-friends because they understand why you are late, why you are wearing odd socks and why you need the double shot of coffee. You can be honest and open and commiserate, then howl hysterically, at parenting fails of the week (the ones you haven’t told your husbands about).

Meeting up with mum friends and the little darlings are best kept to child-friendly venues so they can let off steam and you can relax (ish) for a short while. Play cafes or soft play centres are excellent for this type of meet up or a picnic in the park when the weather is suitable. If you can enlist the help of a family member to watch the children for a few hours, no group is more deserving of a massage than the ‘mum friends!’.


What Women Actually Want 

What we want when meeting up with friends is to be able to properly dedicate some time to the friendship, whichever type it is. Whether it’s the housework, actual work, or the kids, there’s nothing like stepping away and having a good natter and a good belly laugh. Time with friends can lighten the mental load of daily life and you can learn from each other as well as laugh with each other. At Elements Boutique Spa we offer a serene environment that sets the scene for your escape. A few blissful hours away from the normal routine to catch up with the other important people in your life- your friends.  

Elements Boutique Spa is an award-winning, luxury spa set amongst the Somerset Levels in Somerset. To book a spa day, massage, facial, or any of our treatments, please get in touch. Email spa@windmillretreat.co.uk or call 01823 698951


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