While it seems like small children have a knack for making friends at the drop of a hat, many older adults feel that making new friends is one of the hardest things they can try to do. But if you’re getting older and have fewer and fewer friends around you, it’s important that you find a way to connect with people and build a support system for yourself.
So if you’ve struggled with making friends in the past, here are three tips for making friends as an older adult.
Find People With Similar Interests
One of the best places to start for finding new friends as an older adult is to think about what interests and passions you have. Then, you can find a place where you can meet people with a similar interest as you.
By doing this, you’ll start any friendship already having something big in common with anyone that you’re interacting with. And if you’re able to join a group within your community or start going to a class that’s being offered by your neighborhood, you’ll quickly be able to see what people in your area may turn out to be great friends to you just based off of their love or enjoyment of something that you also find pleasure in.
Get Comfortable Breaking The Ice
Just being in the same place as people that have similar interests with you may not be enough to start a lasting friendship. Especially if the other people you’re interacting with are introverted or don’t like feeling vulnerable, you’ll have to take it upon yourself to get comfortable with breaking the ice and starting conversations with people that might make good friends for you.
While this can be scary and intimidating, it’s worth remembering that even if a friendship you attempt to make doesn’t come to fruition or you feel like you get rejected, there’s really nothing lossed since you were only trying to gain a new friend anyway. And since you yourself have a lot to offer to others in friendship, you’re bound to find someone who appreciates that onces you get comfortable with putting yourself out there.
Make The Effort To Maintain Contact
If you think about all the friends that you’ve had in your life, there are likely some that you simply lost contact with. Because of this, you may not even have to go through the effort of finding brand new friends if you can reconnect with those friends that you’ve already previously made.
Either way, to maintain friendships, you have to make a conscious choice to make an effort to stay in contact with the people that you care about. Even if your life gets busy or their lives get busy, which they always are, if having friends as an older adult is important to you, you have to give this area of your life the care that it deserves.
If you’re wanting to make and keep your friends as you approach old age, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you learn how this can best be done.
