Making Friends Feels Like Dating

Let Me Claire-ify · Mar 5, 2026 · 46m · transcript

“No new friends”… or whatever Drake said.

I’m not sure when the cutoff happens, but it’s starting to feel like once you reach a certain age, the opportunity to make new friends, or even the desire to make new friends, significantly diminishes. Somewhere along the way, many of us seem to reach an unofficial but widely accepted consensus: I don’t need new friends.

I’m not necessarily arguing against that sentiment. I’m just wondering whether it’s helpful for someone like me—someone who recently moved to a new state without a built-in local community.

Is it possible to live a fulfilling life as…