"Reluctance to reach out to old friends is a common experience, but reconnecting can pay off" - Do you have a story about reconnecting with an old friend?

I reached out to dozens over lockdown (which probably adds to how successful it was).

Everyone who saw the message replied. All of them were really positive about hearing from me. One had even tried to contact me but only had my deadname to search for. Most of them we chatted for a bit then it naturally tapered off, but we still catch up once in a while. And a few are now good, solid friends.

Definitely recommend.

I was feeling like shit last month. I decided a few months ago to stop taking my anti-depressants thinking it would be best to change my thinking patterns, and while it did work for a bit, last month I felt like crap seemingly out of nowhere initially, but then that spiraled into feeling unappreciated by people.

Not gonna delve into them, but you think some really dark thoughts when you feel alone and as though you mean nothing to people. I sent an old friend from my hometown a message in the latter half of the month before, and didn't get a response, so I simply sent a message asking if we were still friends, thinking it wouldn't be worth bothering. I hadn't talked to this guy in ages, why would he say yes after all this radio silence I've been giving?

But no, this guy responded immediately, hyped up to hear from me again, saying of course we were still friends. It's been slow working things up again, but that just comes with schedule conflicts and not living in the same city, but that was an instant mood changer after nearly two weeks of it being in freefall.

Helped me start putting more focus on giving myself accurate self-assessment. Been writing down times I felt appreciated by others for reference for when I feel like that again so I can nip those thoughts in the bud next time.

My old friend actually reached out to me in a dark time when I needed it the most. I'm so lucky to have her back as a friend in my life. My former long term partner was a very jealous woman and never explicitly told me I couldn't have friends who were women, but would guilt trip me and act like I was going to leave her for them all the time. So I unintentionally fell out of touch with a lot of my friends. I feel really loved knowing my friend missed me and wanted to reach out and cared about how I was doing after barely speaking in ten years. It means so much to me, and I would have never had the courage to reach out to her because I felt like a bad friend who bailed on her for a controlling partner!