Making friends in my 30s, turned out to be much more successful and rewarding than I though.

In my 20s, it was easy to surround myself with people, to join different groups, to meet new people. With time, I was turning more into an adult and my priorities were shifting from friends and social life to my career and my romantic relationship(s).

Moving to the Netherlands few months before I’ve turned 30 was scary, mainly because of the idea to build a friendship circle completely from scratch. In their 30s, most people already have enough friends and are less willing to invest time and energy into building new friendships.

I guess I was lucky. I’ve started a Dutch course and there I met four amazing women, which I am grateful to call my friends - a Greek, a Swedish, a Danish, a Portuguese and me – a Bulgarian.

We are a beautiful mixture of backgrounds, culture, and characters. Each of us having her own uniqueness, we are sharing similar values and our heart-to-heart connection always make me feel that we are more alike, than we are different.

We are curious for each other and the choices each of us is making. And trust me, we are not judging, we are not shaming, we are not pretending. When we are together, we are open, we are true and authentic. We are there for each other.

We don’t need to spend time with each other daily, not even weekly. Sometimes months have passed before we manage to meet up. Each of us has her own life, her own desires, goals, and priorities. However, when we come together, we are having a feast for our hearts. Hours and hours are not enough to tell all the stories, to express all the feelings and to share all the ideas. No topic is off the table.

Every time together, I feel lighter after so much laughter, talking and exchanged love. These encounters nourish my soul and the feminine in me.

This led me to think that the best part of making friends later in my life, is that I am truthful to myself. I trust my intuition. If I like someone and if there is a click, we keep on building the relationship. If not, we don’t waste each other’s time. I know what is important to me. I don’t feel the need to do something or pretend to be someone else, just to fit in a group, to be liked or to be accepted. This is super liberating to me. And I cherish and protect these relationships, as something truly valuable!