Friendships form an important part of life. They relieve stress and provide comfort and joy towards your mental wellbeing. They also combat feelings of isolation and loneliness. However, why is it so many people find making friends as an adult so hard. It seems like making friends as a child was so much easier!
Here are some tips from SAMS that could help you make more friends as an adult.
1: Go to the same place regularly
The reason why making friends as a child was so much easier was mostly due to the fact you were in school 5 days a week with the same people surrounding you! Whether this was in classes or in the lunch hall you were urged to make conversation without even realising it, and by coincidence those conversations would start with something you have in common – school. Having something in common with someone is the number one conversation starter. Therefore, our first top tip would be, to go somewhere regularly. You can do this by joining a club. Were you good at tennis back in school? Pick that sport back up. You’re bound to meet another person that enjoys tennis and is willing to adapt and improve alongside you. Gain benefits such as boosting your confidence, gaining energy, combatting health conditions and even finding a new passion besides scrolling through your emails. Of course, if you don’t like sports its fine. You can gain a new qualification by attending a course of your liking or even do some voluntary work.
2: Peel yourself up from the office chair and say yes to networking invitations
With a lot of jobs going remote it can be hard to meet adults in person to build those physical relationships. Work dominates a lot of people’s lives so you may question doing a few extra hours of ‘work’. Especially if it involves associating voluntarily with people in your industry. However, think of it as a social opportunity! By not contributing to these social opportunities you are sacrificing your chance of meeting people you could genuinely feel a connection with – plus there’s always free food at these places.
3: Planning days out
Many adults are in the same position as you, and want to find more reasons to get out the house. Whether it’s having a dog walk in the park with a colleague, hosting a few drinks at your home. its likely people will want to join. There’s more to life than sitting in the house and scrolling through your phone. spontaneously learn a new skill with a colleague or a family member. Take a 1 day first aid course and learn skills such as CPR or bandage wrapping or even upskill your qualifications and do a NEBOSH course where you’re studying with the same people for 10 weeks and solving problems together.
In summary, the secret to combatting loneliness as an adult is that you have to try. Show up to events, ask people to meet up, show up to clubs on a regular basis. It’s the tiny acts like ‘hello’ that could initial the start of a wholesome friendship. We all did it in school, so we can do it now.
Happy friendship week.