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Over the years, I've noticed that i'm drifting apart from the group of friends i had in highschool and college. People are moving to different cities for work, families are being started, etc. My social life is kinda nonexistent now. My question is, how do you make friends as an adult?
There are many ways. You can make friends online. But, where it really counts is in the outside world. You just make friends by talking to people. The best way to go about it is probably by finding something that you are interested in and attending events or gatherings with people who share similar interests. (e.g if you are interested in art, go to art events, or go to art museums)
It's a matter of getting out of your shell and knowing who to meet, really.
I've had a similar thing happen to me. Within the last year, a lot of my friends had either left the area, or have died. I started getting a little concerned about things. I have realized that there were more people that I could meet than I realized. So I started paying more attention to them.
All of a sudden, people started going out of their way to meet me. All of a sudden, I was overwhelmed with new people that I have met. Now I'm back in the pass(ive)enger seat.
To make friends, you get out and be with like minded people.
Develop interests and hobbies. Then check out meetups.com for groups doing the same thing. Join a book club, check out the nearest branch of the American Association of University Women for socializing and volunteering. ( I'm assuming your a woman). Get involved with various groups in your town- garden clubs, historical society, land use, social service agencies, etc.
If you have a dog, go to the dog park, go to classes like agility.
Take adult education classes at night or weekends, in things that might interest you- arts, crafts, language, computer groups, chess, etc.
Check out your college alumni association- they may have a branch near where you live. Join them for meetings, travel opportunities.
If you're sports minded, check out your town recreational leagues and play a sport.
Try not to depend on only having friends of you own exact age. Friends can be if any age ,although it's always nice to have a couple of similar age. But they all don't have to be. Make friends with anyone you feel comfortable with.
It's normal for our friend groups to change as we mature.
We've met most of our friends through our kids. That is, our kids and their kids became friends and then we became friends with their parents. This goes back to shared interests, we all had kids in common. As others have said, just start meeting with people who share your interests. As long as you participate, maybe volunteer to lead occasionally, some will invite you to activities outside the group.
Adults often make friends with the parents of their children's friends. You see them so often, you start to socialize with them apart from the children. It's easy to meet people by volunteering to help with events at your kids' schools
You can join groups at church.
You can join an affinity group, like a sports club, animal rescue, wine lovers, etc. It's easy to find these groups via www.meetup.com or by researching them online.
You can take a class in a subject that interests you, like a language, creative writing, cooking, etc.
Find people that share AN interest. Don't think you have to have everything in common. It is not high school where you do everything with the same group. You don't have to go to a concert with the same person you golf with.
I disagree with a previous poster that mentioned like minded people. You only have to have one thing in common. As I said it is not high school. You will have different friends for different activities.
If you live in a larger city, find people through your own personal interests or hobbies. I think just meeting people online only has some large limitations depending on how you go about it, but it can happen.
Someone mentioned Meetup.com. You can try finding like-minded people on Meetup.com but it may take several tries as some groups are not as active as others. You could do volunteer work somewhere and meet people with similar ideas. If you live relatively near your former school(s) you could find out if there is an active alumni association in your area. If you want to network in your field of work, there are probably active groups for socializing.
In essence, you have some more outlets in a larger city, but you can use your imagination and find some like-minded people in smaller towns, it is more thinking outside the box in meeting people in person, I believe.
It is much easier in a larger city & that includes meetup.com. The choices of interests where I currently live are
slim pickings. I'm not interesting in hunting ghosts, paganism, tarot cards, dungeons and dragons or musician
groups (don't play an instrument). Maybe where you live you would have more options.
I agree that volunteering or taking a workshop or class is a good way to meet people.
I guess I shouldn't be surprised since I saw a sign for that when I went to New Hope, PA.
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People really do that?
