I just want some lighthearted fun

[mamajong]

Fully prepared to be told aibu.

Long story short I have a solid group of friends and we have been through our fair share of trials and tribulations together over the years - death of a parent, miscarriage, divorce, serious illness, redundancy...plus the usual life highs and lows. Throughout it all we have always found a good balance of practical and emotional support and just having fun and making memories.

Now we are in our 40s and 50s things have dramatically changed and get togethers have just become coffee and takeaways at someones house, moaning about the same problems. Dont get me wrong the problems are real and valid but I cant help feeling there is more to life. Ive tried suggesting activities- hiking, paddleboarding, gentle bike ride, cookery lesson and bigger days out - shopping, visiting another city/sightseeing, picnic, theatre...but all anyone ever wants to do is havd coffee or occasionally alcohol and just moan about life. I love my friends dearly but I fjnd myself bored and avoiding meetups. Aibu or am I right and we need to live a little?

join other groups and begin to expand your world. Sounds dreadful and boring to me too.

I think it can be hard to make friends at later stages, but if you join interest groups I’m sure things would develop.

You might be a bit young but U3A would be good.

They are stuck in a rut and you are not....break free and do your own thing, life is for living, not naval grazing.

You don't need to avoid this group of friends. Keep doing what you are doing with them and have coffee and get togethers. Its obvious that there is a time and place for this kind of meet up (rant/support etc)

But if you feel you need more then you need to find another group of more like minded friends. So put yourself out there and do some of those things yourself and see who you meet along the way.

I have friends who I call upon if I want a meal out, others I would call on if I wanted to go to a gig. Others I would call upon if I want non complicated chat and others that I call upon if I wanted to rant and needed support with something and I needed a pick me up or a kind word.

There is space in most peoples lives for more than one group of friends and if you find them, you will most likely find your original group not so boring.

I agree with this.

Maybe some of your friends can’t afford expensive activities op?

Thanks for the replies, I definitely dont want to ditch the group, they are my ride or dies, I just miss the fun we used to have and definitely agree some if them have got stuck in a rut. Its definitely not a finance thing as most of them have more disposable income than I do, if anything I think its more a perimenopause / loss of confidence type thing.