How do you meet friends/people in general?

[Roxxy]

I have a lovely group of real life friends I met when my son started nursery. We have kept in touch and I honestly couldn’t have coped over the years without them. I am very grateful and thankful.

I have made a few friends online who although we haven’t met are very important to me

 

[LoveGraceMarie]

I don’t really there’s not a lot of opportunity to do so where I live

 

[ShawnFuzz]

Bein socially awkward, I don't make friends. Just a truth I have accepted.

 

[skarmoury]

to be honest im not that great at making friends either.... it really sucks when people don't feel the same way as I do them, but I suppose that's life sometimes. Anyway, i think a lot of my more recent friends I've met through mutual friends? I have a close friend in post-grad who's really into making connections, and a lot of the time he invites me to meet his friends so that's pretty nice. I'm now friends with some of his friends and I appreciate that :]
My boyfriend also likes inviting me when he hangs out with his college friends, i actually know them because we all went to the same college together, but they're all a year lower than me so i didn't really get to interact with them that much back then. But I can say that they're my friends to an extent, not really close but I get along with them :]
Even online, a lot of my friends now are from mutual friends! They invited me to private groups and i guess it started from there. I'm a lot noisier in group chats than I am in private messages, mainly because I'm pretty awkward and I'd like a few more people in the convo since I think i'm a boring person heheh.

I'm actually making more effort to maintain relationships with acquaintances and other people in general. I'm very reserved, but I've noticed that acquaintances commenting on my posts every now and then makes me happy, because it makes me less invisible if that makes sense? I've always thought I was forgettable, so it means quite a lot that some people even give me a small time of their day to hit me up. So I kinda wanna do the same for others. We may or may not form a close relationship, but I think it's the simple act of feeling seen that matters to some people like me. That's why I appreciate random comments or messages or profile posts on here! ^^

 

[OswinOswald]

I thankfully haven't had too much of a problem making friends. I think part of it is being available, and always up for trying things or going to people's events and willing to invest the time. Also I think I have been lucky in being able to find my niche. I'm definitely more of a nerdy quiet type, but I've always found other nerdy slightly more outgoing friends. When I got to University, I found that a lot of other people who are in my situation had a really hard time finding friends within their own schools, but a lot of them were saved by going to summer camps where they could find like-minded people. I think I've always been able to find friends through school or work. Work friends aren't always as close as school friends, but I think my workplaces have always been really good about doing social events. And so I do my best to try and show up to these. I think that usually provides enough social interaction for me. I'm really lucky that I've had a few very close friends since grade school, and continually have been able to pick up just one or two good friends from every new phase in my life. Recently, I have reached back out to people or crossed paths with with people again and that has also worked out - for example recently I've had two friends from a previous phase in my life that I reached back out to when I moved back into the area and while we don't spend a lot of time in person together, we talk a lot on the phone or by email and it has been really nice to reconnect with them. I'm always amazed how I am able to continue friendships, because I'm not usually the person who does a good job of reaching out to people. But I think I somehow have found a lot of friends who are those people and then I'm just available and always responsive when they do reach out so it works out. I'm generally a people pleaser and try not to do anything offensive, and I try my very best to be present and an empathetic ear, so i think all these things help to foster positive relationships.
But you some extent of you want a close friend group, I think there's some aspect of picking the right people, and then mutual interest and commitment, so you have to show up for them and do a little reaching out every now and then and then hopefully they'll do the same.