A friend should not have to earn your company by having an interesting problem.

Some friendships quietly organize themselves around crisis. Attention shows up when something is wrong and thins out when life is steady, which teaches everyone involved that trouble is the price of contact. The friend then keeps their ordinary weeks to themselves, and the relationship comes to know only the worst version of their life.

Reach out to someone this week for no reason at all, with nothing to solve. Ask about something small and current rather than about the last hard thing. Let the conversation be unremarkable, and let that be enough on its own.