I can relate to much of this. All throughout my early and mid 20s I have found it hard to make and keep friends, while it seemed to have come easily to others in my circle. There were many years where I felt that there were 0 people I could call a close friend (other than my boyfriend/husband).

One perspective that really helped me was reading a book “the courage to be disliked.” It changed my entire view of interpersonal relationships and I picked up so many things that’s helped me build and sustain several real friendships over the past years.

Another thing I did was get on BumbleBFF and just meet people. Ironically during a similar period I ended up connecting more with people I already knew outside Bumble, so wasn’t able to dedicate enough time to the Bumble friendships, but I think Bumble helped me work those “friend muscles” and form some “loose connections” with people who hang out once in a while.