5 Tips to Help You Make New Friends
Published October 10th, 2024
3.5 min read
After leaving university, making new friends becomes more challenging and could require you to step outside your comfort zone.
Written by Simon Spichak
Making new friends becomes harder with age. The number of friends you have peaks at 25 and drops off at 30. Between family commitments and working long hours, meeting others who share your values and hobbies becomes harder and harder. We compiled a few tips to help get you on the way to building new friendships.
1. Meet others at your favourite activities and hobbies.
Find others who share your interests.
Think about what you like to do, and find a group. Carve out some time every week you can spend doing these things, increasing the chances of meeting other people you might like.
If you like reading, find a local book club. If you like basketball, join a rec league. If you’re into Dungeons and Dragons, you can find a group to adventure with.
You can find many of these groups through Facebook, Instagram, community centers, and local libraries.
2. Join online and in-person affinity groups.
Affinity groups are spaces where people with a common religion, identity, or job can gather. You might find many things in common with other members of these groups, and sometimes this can spark new friendships.
For example, some groups provide networking, events, and other opportunities for Black university and college students in science, tech, and engineering. Different groups might focus on people of the Jewish faith or others with LGBTQ+ identities.
3. Start volunteering.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re helping out at a hospital, fostering kittens, or cleaning up parks — volunteering has many personal and social benefits. In addition to boosting your mental health, it brings you together with other people who share similar goals, which can be the building block for a new friendship.
4. Put away your phone.
Many of us spend too much time on our phones, which takes focus and attention away from our activities and conversations. Listening to someone else entirely is hard if half your attention is still on your phone. Stay in the moment by putting your phone away or turning it off. It’ll increase the chances that you can get a good conversation going.
5. Ask others about themselves and practice active listening.
Now that you’ve met someone, how do you take that extra step to go from acquaintance to friend?
Make sure to ask lots of open-ended questions. People love talking about themselves! Another important thing is to listen to what they tell you and build on that. If someone explains that they love birding, ask them what they like best about it or the rarest bird they’ve spotted.
Be yourself, crack a few jokes, and enjoy the conversation. You can ask them if they’d like to grab lunch or a coffee soon. Remember that not everyone will want to be your friend, and that’s also okay. If someone tells you no, that doesn’t mean you should stop trying to connect with others.
How Resolvve can help
A therapist isn’t the first person that comes to mind when figuring out how to make friends. However, they can help you build your self-confidence, reduce the impulse to check your phone, and help you step out of your comfort zone if you experience social anxiety.
Resolvve can help you find a therapist who understands what you’re going through and can help you build an action plan to meet new people. If you’re curious about therapy, you can learn more from these resources:
When you’re ready to take the next step, you can get matched to a therapist or book a free consultation.
Please note that this post is written for educational purposes; it is not therapy. If you need to talk to a professional, please book a consultation with a psychotherapist through Resolvve.
