Maybe I will expand a little bit more on my original post.<p>A colleague of mind left a little earlier before work ended because he had an appointment with some of his highschool friends. From what he told us they don&#x27;t live in the same area any more but make it a point to meet up once a month.<p>After work I made a detour to get some stuff, and I happened to walk past the cafe where said colleague was hanging out with his friends. I was walking opposite the street but could see them through the glass windows laughing and having a good time, and in that moment I felt a visceral pang of emptiness &#x2F; loneliness.<p>I am unable to forge a deep level of friendship with people that I meet in Meetup groups - simply because they already have their own cliques and social circle. Even if they do form a new one, it will never be as close-knit as the ones they have formed throughout highschool simply by virtue of the fact that one has been ongoing for a longer time.<p>If you can visualize it like a spider web, where you are in the centre and the &#x27;webs&#x27; that branch out are your friends -  the more friends you make and the stronger connections you form (usually happens throughout high school and college) - the larger your spider web grows exponentially. The closer a person is to you, the nearer he is to the &#x27;centre&#x27; of the web. Think of it this way - the larger the spider web people have, the harder it is for someone to get as close to the centre of the net as possible. At this stage of life - almost everyone already has established their &#x27;spider web&#x27;.<p>I know this because I actually do have such a clique since highschool. We still maintain contact over Whatsapp but since I am the only one that is overseas, I am unable to meet up with them frequently. And within that circle I do have a couple of close friends who I message on a weekly basis, and who I would call lifelong buddies. No way will the new friends I make over volunteering&#x2F;hobbies&#x2F;meetup groups ever become closer to me than these lifelong buddies I have - so how how can I expect the same for them?