How to make friends as adults? If you feel you don't have time, some tips can prove invaluable. Find out in this article!
Last update: 24 September, 2022
Friendships come and go over the course of a lifetime. As children we may have the feeling that making friends is easy, but what about adulthood? It is natural to ask yourself how to make friends as adults. In this article we will give you some ideas for meeting new people.
Lack of time to socialize, stress, responsibilities, or the loss of childhood friends may lead us to believe that making new friends is difficult. Yet it is not impossible!
Furthermore, making friends, regardless of age, sets our empathy in motion, as a study conducted by Virginia University (USA) states.
On the other hand, Brigham Young University psychologist Julianne Holt-Lunstad states that “Not being able to count on a circle of friends is a more powerful cause of mortality than obesity or a sedentary lifestyle ". Do you still have doubts about how important it is to make new friends? Don't miss our tips for making friends as adults!
Adults tend to get trapped in a routine of just working, sleeping, and possibly looking after children. With this pace of life, friendships occupy a secondary place on the list of priorities.
-Martin Burrow, Relate consultant-
How to make friends as adults
A study conducted by the Relate organization shows that in the UK, one in eight adults have no trusted friends. While it's not always easy to make friends as an adult, it's certainly not impossible. Here's how to do it.
Sign up for a class to meet new people
Taking part in group activities is a great way to socialize; in this regard, you could join a course, a workshop, a group or an association. There are certainly many activities to do in the city! If, on the other hand, you live in a small town, you could choose among the activities offered in the nearest town.
In addition to learning something new or recovering an abandoned passion, it allows you to meet people of the same age with whom you share tastes. On the other hand, we could also opt for an activity never done before, that is us it will help to get out of the comfort zone and to live new experiences. If you think about it, everything is broth!
Don't be afraid to go further, to step outside your comfort zone. It is there that joy and adventures have their roots.
-Herbie Hancock.
Engage in sports to make friends as adults
Sport could be useful for making friends as adults. Whether you join the gym or decide to go for a run, both options can help you meet people your age. However, you will have to bring out your more extroverted side.
How about organizing as a group to go skating, running or hiking? On the internet there are several pages (such as Meetup) that facilitate the meeting of groups of people. You could do some research on the web to find out which groups are of most interest to you. There's no harm in trying!
In addition to this, sport is a panacea for health, it improves individual and social well-being; it is also often effective in calming anxiety disorders or depression. Therefore, it is not just a window on the world of new encounters, but also a resource to improve one's life.
Keep an open attitude
Certainly not all of us are equally extroverted; but yet, keeping an open attitude towards others helps to make new acquaintances and make friends. If we are shy, it can help us to gradually fit into a new group.
Being outgoing is a personality trait that some people manifest by nature, but we can also "learn" to be. In this regard, a study recently published in the Journal of Experimental led by researcher Margolis S., suggests that people who are extroverted are the happiest, even when in reality they are very introverted.
As we can see, this feature is useful both to break the ice and to get in tune with others, therefore it would help to make friends as adults.
Stay in touch
But be careful: it is not only important to make friends, but also to take care of them and commit to making them last over time. How can we do it when we have thousands of commitments? Just take a few moments to make a phone call or meet.
There is no need to see each other continuously or for the meeting to last for hours; the important thing is to be present and take an interest in your friends.
Friendship is a strong bond that won't break if it involves people planting seeds to water and care for.
-Anonymous.
