I generally feel like it’s worth it. Even if that worth is only validating why you stopped chatting to that person in the first place.
Especially because I have no irl-linked social media, Im often initiating contact… But I like checking in on random people every few years or so, you never know, you might brighten someone’s day; develop connections you might not have with acquaintances because you’ve both changed; or at the very least, reminding yourself that there’s no loss if you don’t talk to that person ever again!
I’d rather be regretting my interaction than to regret not interacting at all.
I’ve had a few experience with this and each was drastically different.
On one end, I reconnected with a friend I hadn’t seen since high school and invited her out for dinner. We met and just picked up right where we left off. Every time I see her now, it’s the same. I invite her to all my parties by default because she’s a great person to hang out with. We’re very much similar people and really enjoy each other’s company.
On the other, I reconnected with an online friend I hadn’t spoken to in a few years. It was nice to chat with him again but the more we talked, the more it was clear to me why we stopped talking in the first place. He was sort of controlling and jumped to a lot of weird conclusions and never communicated what he wanted clearly. We stopped talking regularly and while we’ll say hi if we’re online at the same time, we don’t seek each other out for long chats.
There’s a former friend I’m almost certain would be the first type if I reached out, which honestly makes reaching out all the more terrifying because the rejection would hurt all the more.
Doesn’t help that the one real attempt I’ve had at reconnecting with a friend was very much the 2nd type. We were very much the rawr xD type of kids, long story short we ended up going to different schools and lost touch, I went through tons of traumatic events and “mellowed out”(aka became horribly depressed). We reconnected online years later and he hadn’t changed a bit, if anything he’d gotten worse. His idea of a stimulating conversation was one of us saying something like “1”, the next saying “2”, continuing ad nauseam.
There was an attempt one time. It was terrible. That person was still as self-centered as ever.
Yup. My childhood best friend reached out after learning that I was getting divorced a few years back. He lived out of state but was in town visiting family, so we got dinner. It was good to catch up. I ended up being one of his groomsmen and we still talk/game together, although distance still prevents us from meeting IRL too often.
I’ve come close a few times. I’m so introverted usually my only friendships are held together through my significant other so if they drift away, so do I. I’ve tried reaching out in the past but it never amounts to anything.
