If you find yourself feeling lonely, you can remedy the situation by meeting new people and making friends. Surrounding yourself with friends who you trust and respect can improve your happiness. MayoClinic.com reports that friendships often increase your senses of belonging, reduce levels of stress, decrease your risk of developing a mental illness such as depression or anxiety and help you cope with significant issues such as divorce. You have to put in work to develop and maintain healthy friendships, so don't expect it to happen in a short amount of time. But you can start engaging in friendships today.
Step 1
Make a list of qualities that you would like your friends to have. For instance, you might want friends who like the same things as you, make you laugh and don't take themselves too seriously.
Step 2
Figure out where people with those qualities spend time. If you want to make friends who enjoy reading, you'll find those people at bookstores, libraries and book clubs. If you just want friends who you can trust or other qualities like those, you'll find them at many different places, so list places you enjoy spending time.
Step 3
Pick one day in the upcoming week to go to a couple places on your list. When you go to these places, you need to be open to meeting new people and realize that there is a potential for rejection.
Step 4
Smile at people who seem inviting, because it will make you seem warm and open to interactions with others. Don't block yourself off from meeting new people, because the point is to make friends. For example, you wouldn't want to go to a bookstore, grab a bestseller and hunker down in a corner for hours reading by yourself.
Step 5
Introduce yourself to others. This will be easier if you've chosen an activity such as a cooking class, kickboxing class or book club. If you introduce yourself to someone and he doesn't seem interested in talking, move on to someone else.
Step 6
Accept invitations from others, recommends MayoClinic.com. If you're out or participating in an activity such as a painting class, accept the offer to grab coffee after class or to go to a potluck that evening. Even if you don't think the person will end up being your best friend, she might have many other friends that she'll introduce you to.
Tips and Warnings
- Take it slow. When you meet someone new, he might give you his phone number and email address, so you can keep in contact. Don't abuse it by emailing him every day and calling him late in the evening when his kids are asleep. Keep conversations and emails short until he shows he's open to more frequent communication.
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