Break out of your daily routine. If you want to make new friends, especially good, long-lasting ones, you may need to step out of your comfort zone—online or IRL. It’s perfectly understandable to want a quiet night at home at the end of a long workday or week. But getting out and about or making an effort to branch out on social media is crucial for making new friends.
- Instead of ordering your favorite take out, eat in the restaurant.
- Make a habit of going for a walk around the neighborhood in the evenings.
- Think of the whole world as your playground, not just your own backyard. Get out and enjoy the sights-you’ll end up meeting people in the process.
- Follow a few potential friends on social media or DM someone you’ve always wanted to get to know.
Make a point of accepting invitations. It’s very easy, especially if you’re a somewhat solitary person, to rationalize why you don’t want to go to the party, for instance, why you won’t enjoy it, why it’s not a good idea because you were sick a week ago-but if you want to make friends, you’ll give yourself a major advantage by being willing to accept invitations.
- Be wary of declining invitations too often; people may eventually stop asking.
- Accept that you’ll need to inconvenience yourself from time to time in order to spend time with potential friends. Usually the inconvenience stops once you’re together and having a good time.
- Let others change you. Sometimes, especially if you have emotional walls up, making a good friend requires letting someone break them down. [4] When someone is trying to connect, they may be trying to bring you out of your shell. Let them in, and share your more intimate thoughts and desires with them.
Get out in social places. To meet new people and make good friends, you’ll need to be where people are interacting on a social level. The first step is to walk through the door and out into the world. When you get out to places where there’s a good likelihood of meeting and interacting with people in a social context, you’ve already put yourself on the right track.
Join some clubs! Search online or at your local community center for club opportunities in your area. Remember, you aren’t the only one in town hoping to find a new friend!
- If you’re a mom, you can join a mothers club. A mothers club is a place for mothers to get together to discuss their kids, problems they’ve been having or what they’ve been doing, as well as just spending time with other mothers and getting to know each other and share stories.
- If you appreciate literature, join a local book club where you can hang out and discuss the month’s readings.
Go to local events. Concerts, neighborhood meetings, or even store grand openings and events at your local library are places where you can interact on a social level with like-minded individuals.
- Being more present in your community can make a huge difference in your ability to find good friends.
- Being a member of the same local community means you will always have something to talk about.
