How many close friends do you have?

[boompah]

Not including family.

I have two. I feel that's low. Have other friends but not close close.

1. I feel so lucky to have my close friends. 3 are 'individual' and the other 2 I meet up with as a 3.

Just my husband. I have no one I could call if I needed help.

Zero, I only trust my sisters, husband, parents and daughters. No backstabbing friends needed than you very much. Never had a cousin I'm close to either.

The fact that it's zero used to bother me a lot but now I'm comfortable in my own skin.

1 bestie/like a sister from primary school, 1 college mate, 3 from work, 2 from...not sure, parties. It's more, to me, about who us near, they live all over and I'd love to expand friendships locally. True friends are ones where it doesn't matter how much time passes, you pick up where you left off. I agree with diversification 😂

I wonder if people with less friends find more comfort on forums like MN then?

3 very close plus my sister - would hide the body with me

3 more pretty close - wouldn’t tell anyone where I hid the body

@faithfulbird20

The fact that it's zero used to bother me a lot but now I'm comfortable in my own skin.

You don’t sound very comfortable (or happy)

None

1 best friend. Like a bury a body call you at 3 in the morning Friend ( infact we were texting at 2 this morning ha ) we see each other daily and text ring a lot, in fact her daughter is in my spare bed atm .
3 meet up for occasional coffe and walk friends. They are from work .

I'm happy with my lot x

@xprincessxjanetx

0. It's embarrassing and pathetic but I haven't had a friend at all since I left college.

Me too - 0. Sometimes I feel a bit down about it but not always!

1 body burying best friend plus my sister who I’m equally close to

A handful (less than 5) of close ish friends

5 plus my sister (who is definitely a 3am/body friend to me). Unfortunately 2 live quite far away in the UK and one internationally. I’m really trying to build up my local friendships but those ones will definitely endure. They’ve all lasted between 12-28 years already.

3 body friends
1 further friend who would advise me on the body

That’s not including my sister, who’s a body friend.

That’s plenty enough for me.

I’ve known them all since I was 11-18, one I met in parenting circles.

These threads pop up frequently and I find them quite sad. Not sad when people say they have few or none, but that either they don't do anything to change their situation, or find an acceptance of it, struggle with feeling that their lives are not normative.

5 - two Ive known since primary school, the other from seniors, we've all just turned 50. Another Ive known since I was 18 or 19 and the other when we were colleagues for about 2 years from 2003.

I always post the same anecdote on these threads. When I was a medical student a pyschiatrist told me most people can only maintain 3 or 4 really close friendships. I have had that number for many years. I think maybe in my retirement I will have a greater capacity to make new friends.

I think it depends so much on circumstances and the time people have to nurture friendships at certain points in their life. I have some wonderful friends but all are from when I was at university or from my late twenties when I was working abroad. Only two friends married before thirty and most of us on and off single through our twenties. So a combination of being far from family/home and (mostly) not having significant others meant we spent time together and depended on each other a lot. Nearly thirty years on we're all settled with DHs and children and geographically very spread out but they are still the women I'd call in dire and in wonderful circumstances. I've lived where we are now for twenty years and DH is my best friend, I do have local friends who are lovely but they're not "bury the body" friends like my old friends are.

As I have got older I have less intense friendships. It's more about meeting up for social events or coffee/seeing people at kids activities and less about chatting on phone for hours, just popping over or shopping together.I miss having friends I can just call up. Everything is what's app groups and tagging on Facebook these days.

“Close” (as in help me bury a body at 3am or call every day) I would say zero - I’m too self sufficient to bother people with burying bodies and im way too busy and just don’t have the time (or inclination) to maintain a friendship to that degree.
I do have lots of people I would call good friends though that I have developed over the years that at various times have been more intense (eg ex flat mates, ex work colleagues, old school or uni friends etc that I would have at one point interacted with daily). Some I don’t see for a couple of years at a time but when we do, we pick up right where we left off and it is lovely. They are a very diverse bunch and most don’t know each other so no big group dynamics to have to navigate. It’s just all very easy. If I happen not to speak to someone for a long time, I don’t consider them no longer a friend. We inevitably catch up again sooner than later, at either my or their instigation. Life is too busy and too short for fostering lots of “close” relationships. I’m close to my husband and my family. He would help me bury the body at 3am that’s enough!

None. I've got about 3 people I could meet up with, one is closer than the others but I still wouldn't say we were close friends and I hold people at arm's length these days.

I have lots of friends through a hobby, but probably only two really close friends that I would discuss most things with.

I suppose it depends what you mean by close, I have one friend I speak to daily, and a further 3 that I message weekly and meet up with for a coffee every month or two

I'm quite happy with my selection!