Look through your local college prospectus for ideas or a local newspaper for groups. Whatever it is, before you sign up, think to yourself, ‘if it’s cold or rainy day, would I still go?’ If you are telling yourself ‘No’, then this is not for you and look for another. If you truly like and interested in the hobby, friendship will happen naturally. Joining a hobby group just to make friends is never a good idea. In fact, in the long run it usually makes you feel even more lonelier because you’ll be among people talking about the hobby you have no interested in and you are getting no joy either by doing something you don’t like doing in the first place!
But, if you don’t go out how do you meet new friends?
You can meet people online, but do you find yourself wondering if they are who they say they are…?
Which is why meeting people face to face is still a great way as a first step towards the start of making new friends. It helps build trust first before taking the next step of getting to know them.
So how do you meet new people when you literally don’t know anyone apart from the postman?
Here’s some tips:
- Start a new hobby. You don’t have to do extreme sports nor does it have to be something so sedate you fall asleep.
- Be a regular visitor. If you like a cup of tea in the morning, instead of having it at home and reading the paper, find a cafe and have it there instead while you read. It might take you a little while to find the right cafe or the right time to go, but when you think you have found a venue, be it a cafe or a restaurant or a shop, keep going at the same time on a regular basis. You’ll start to notice others who are also regular visitors just as they will start to notice you and that’s when the odd word will turn into a few sentences and before you know it, you’ll be sitting together and chatting.
- Reignite your sense of adventure. Staying home is safe, but it’s also unadventurous. When you were younger and felt you had the world at your feet, you did something back then that you don’t do now. You looked at the world with a sense of adventure and it gave you the courage to leave home and take the next step of your life journey. Sometimes we are pushed into this step, other times we take it gladly. But we were aware of the adventure that laid ahead, irrespective of it being one we wanted or were scared of. Now is the time to reawaken that inner feeling and do something to wake up that sense of adventure. Be scared or be excited but either way, by getting out you’ll start meeting new people and they could introduce you to other new people.
Remember, relying on neighbours and people to come to you so you can stay within your home gives you a limited choice of people to try and make friends with. And with such a limited choice, it is also easier to make friends with the wrong people too as sometimes we will set aside our own inner warning bells in favour of having company and then kick ourselves for feeling stupid for trusting them in the first place!
Making friends with the right people is still just as important no matter the age. We warn children but somehow we forget the rules still apply even to us as adults. However, while the variables might have changed, time and effort is still required. And if you are willing to put in the effort and a little time, you can have your life filled with a whole new load of friends you can trust and once again have fun.
Enjoy.