Maintaining Friendships

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Hello everyone,
I find it ok (ish) to make friends, especially if we have a common interest. However I find it impossible to maintain these friendships, for example most of these 'friends' who I talked with on a daily/weekly basis are now those who like my page on my birthday and then disappear for another year. It's never easy for me and feels forced. The only person who I can feel completely myself with is my partner, she understands and is as random as me.
Although I'd like to chat with and make other friends; I play in a band but outside of the rehearsals/gigs we don't talk much and I don't feel the need to engage.

Or is it ok to just be myself? Do we really need lots of friends?

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance

Staying in touch with friends is hard, unless there is some common group activity (either in-person or online) that you're all involved in. As autistic people, of course, many of us have trouble with in-person group activities (unless they happen to be structured in a way that meets our needs).


I'm confused here. What do you mean by the word "random" in this context?


Are you already friends with the other members of the band? Do you have a sense of comradeship with them, rooted in making music together, even if you don't talk much outside of rehearsals/gigs? If you're already friends with them and you all have a sense of comradeship around your music, then it shouldn't require much if any outside contact to maintain the friendship.


There's no moral obligation to have friends, but having friends is certainly a good idea if at all possible.

IMO, it's important to have a small cluster of good friends who care enough about each other to help each other in time of need, especially as one gets older and can no longer count on one's family, or in the event that something happens to one's partner.

It's also desirable to have a larger network of more casual friends who can help one find jobs -- and this is especially important for those of us who are lousy at job interviews.