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Having a lot of friends is always a good thing. The other aspect of this is that you ideally have a lot of friends that are diverse and different from one another. This is because it is beneficial to have friends that aren’t just the same as you, especially in terms of age.
There are many benefits to forming friendships with those that aren’t your exact age. For one, they have a unique perspective on life. If they are older than you, they will have lived through more and remembered the world in a different way. For instance, if you are in your 20’s and your friend is in their mid- 30’s, they remember the world without cell phones and high speed internet. This can be quite valuable to learn about and can make you think about things a bit differently. Not only do they remember the world differently, they are able to reference things further back in time that you might not be aware even existed. There might be some movie that is perfect for you that was released long before you were born that they might simply know about and tell you. There is indeed value to the expression that with age comes wisdom.
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If the person is younger than you, obviously they will know more about what is popular within that age demographic. It might help you to learn a new skill, about a new technology, or simply something that you can pass along to your kids or family members who might be that same age.
Having friends who are different ages than you is also a great way to get alternating opinions. If you are having a problem or have a question that needs to get answered, it makes sense to not only ask your peers but also to speak to someone older as well as someone younger for their perspective. Different generations often disagree on issues and have different priorities, so being able to ask someone in as many as you can gives you a more full picture when solving the problem.
There’s also the aspect of how interacting with people of different ages can impact your own emotions. You often hear phrases like “feel more mature” and conversely “makes me feel younger”. Being around someone who is older than you after some kind of sad or tragic moment can be helpful, because they have inevitably lived through their own moments of sorrow. In addition, their age may have led them down a number of paths throughout the years with their religious beliefs and their relationship with God.
If your friend is younger, you can be a helpful person for them to come to in these instances. Or they can prove to give you a fresh perspective from someone who hasn’t been jaded so to speak. Finally, there is such a thing as youthful exuberance. Sometimes doing something fun with a younger person will help to remind you of your own youth and really cheer you up if you are feeling down. One example might be something like going to the amusement park with a younger friend for a day. This is not likely something that people above a certain age would do, but taking your younger friend would be not out of the ordinary at all. Doing things like this can be good for both your mental and physical health.
The same concepts go towards finding love and happiness. There is no perfect blueprint for what is the right age of your partner. Different people have different priorities and for some it just makes more sense to seek those who are a bit different in age. Limiting your search to people your own age just simply limits the number of possible connections you get with both love and friendships. It might be time to consider expanding your horizons into broader territory.
Keep all of these things in mind the next time you are at a social gathering, bar, or even on a dating website. You might find that the person you get along the best with is someone who is of significant age difference.
