Why is it so hard to make friends as an adult?

Of course, so many things are easy really, but people build it up and build it up, overcomplicate things in life endlessly, and it leaves them lost out hopeless.

I've been thinking about this a lot recently. People go through an education system, and if you're going to do that to a reasonable level, it's very hard, and you need to turn down fun things and socialising a lot to be able to study hard enough in your years of turning from a kid to an adult (so about 15 when GCSE exam year starts to 21 and beyond), some people find something to study that they like and would do anyway, but for many, it's mostly just work. So at a fragile age, people are thinking why is it all so difficult, and extend this to all aspects of life more than just what might be very difficult but worth doing perhaps (studying hard to gain a good degree). They wonder constantly, "why is it so complicated, am I doing the right thing, lots of people I knew from school aren't working as hard as me etc., have they found out the secrets of how to act in life and am I wasting my time"..

/r/AskUK Thread Parent