Friendship in your 20s.

Friendship in your 20s feels like a breath of fresh air. Having people who get you, who hold you down, and who remind you that you’re not losing your mind, is honestly priceless.

Because let’s be real; your 20s are confusing. Some days it feels like you’re drowning in responsibilities. Other days you’re stumbling through life with no map, no clue, and no Wi-Fi signal to even Google “how to be an adult.” But when you have good friends, the load feels lighter. They don’t have all the answers either, but they’ll sit with you in the chaos and remind you you’re not alone.

Sometimes friendship looks like unlimited cocktails on a random Sunday. Sometimes it’s grabbing ice cream after a long day or getting dressed up for a Friday night at the club. Other times, it’s quieter. A sleepover where nobody sleeps, just endless gist, or someone checking in with, “Have you eaten?” These little rituals become lifelines. You start living from hangout to hangout because the world feels a little less heavy when you’re laughing with your people.

The truth is, your 20s are a rollercoaster. Highs, lows, heartbreaks, confusion, and the occasional breakdown in the bedroom at 2 a.m. You can’t do it alone. The world may scream “nobody is coming to save you,” but your friends will save you more times than you can count.

But here’s the flip side, it’s not enough to have good friends. You have to be one too. Send that “text me when you get home” message. Celebrate their tiny wins like they just won a Grammy. Hold space for their rants, show up when it counts, and be the reminder that they matter. Friendship isn’t just about being supported; it’s about showing up to support too.

Because in the end, your 20s won’t be remembered by how fast you figured life out, but by the people who made the figuring-out less lonely.

And it’s not always smooth sailing either. Friendships in your 20s shift, and that can hurt. Sometimes people grow apart, not because of drama, but because life pulls you in different directions. Some friends move abroad, some get consumed by work, others slip into new phases of relationships or responsibilities. The group chats get quieter, the spontaneous hangouts become harder to plan. It’s easy to feel like you’re losing people. But the ones who are meant to stay will carve out time, even in the middle of their chaos.

This is also the decade when you realize quality trumps quantity. It’s less about how many people you can invite to your birthday dinner and more about who will sit with you when you’re ugly crying over something you can’t even put into words. Your 20s force you to see that surface-level friendships won’t always survive the storm. What lasts are the ones rooted in honesty, mutual effort, and genuine care.

And if we’re being honest, friendships in your 20s also take work. You can’t just coast on “we vibe.” You have to check in, even when you’re tired. You have to apologize when you mess up. You have to give grace when your friend flakes because life hit them harder than they expected. It’s in those moments — the forgiving, the re-trying, the showing up again — that friendships deepen.

It’s also worth saying that friendship in your 20s isn’t always about grand gestures. Sometimes it’s about the small things: the meme that makes you laugh on a bad day, the person who remembers your comfort food order without asking, the FaceTime that turns into two hours of laughing at absolutely nothing. These things might look small, but they’re actually huge. They’re proof that someone sees you, knows you, and chooses you over and over again.

Your 20s are messy, beautiful, chaotic, and unforgettable all at once. And while nobody has the perfect formula for surviving this decade, one thing is certain: friends make it bearable. They make it fun. They make it real.

So, while you’re out here building your career, chasing dreams, or just trying to figure out how to pay bills without crying, don’t forget to water your friendships too. They might just be the best investment you’ll ever make.