How To Make New Friends

By Hoani Walker
So you want to learn how to make new friends. Well, there’s no magic formula that you can swallow that transforms you into Mr. or Mrs. popularity, but there is a something simple you can do that will help you tremendously when making new friends. That is to be yourself. Don’t ever try to make a persona for yourself that portrays a personality other than yours because it will just backfire on yourself and leave you worse off. Act exactly the same around other people as you would alone (within reason!) and relax. Making new friends is easy, it just takes practice. Most people like talking to new people but a lot of people won’t step out and be the first to talk to someone. That is another secret on how to make friends. Initiate conversation, just say whatever you are feeling to the person you are trying to make a new friendship with (as long as it is nothing rude or repulsive) and allow a conversation to develop naturally.





Most people make new friends easiest with others who share their interests so let your interests appear in your conversation with people to see if they respond to you. For instance, “did you watch that show last night? The one about the casino? I liked it because it featured poker which I am really good at...” you know, just say whatever you are really feeling. Eventually you will meet like-minded individuals so long as you initiate contact with people. This might mean leaving your comfort zone and searching out places to be sociable like interest clubs or nightclubs. If you need to read an article about how to make friends, chances are you have difficulty in either being yourself, or initiating contact with people. Don’t be anxious, everybody has bouts of loneliness in their lives, it’s how you deal with it that determines how fast your social life improves. Maybe, you want to learn how to make new friends because you are tired or dissatisfied with your current mates. Maybe, you feel you would like to hang with hipper more exiting people. The same rules apply, be yourself and initiate contact. It’s as simple as that. You can also go further to make yourself feel better like making sure your appearance is nice (never overdress, just be clean and presentable) and you can also try a whole range of ways to be around other people to initiate contact with like throwing a party and inviting people you meet during the week. Generally, in the course of being yourself and providing you are around some people with similar interests and you try talking with them, you should find how to make new friends fairly quick and fun. Make new friends at your work, if you work alone visit bars and clubs. Make new friends at your place of study, if you study alone then join interest clubs or search for friends online. Take walks around your neighbourhood and introduce yourself to people you meet. Now if you are of a mind to make new friends with certain type of person, then consider where he or she is likely to frequent and go there yourself. What about sports clubs and events? Be open, don’t cut out people when you talk with them, turn slightly towards then and make eye contact. Be easy and have a good time with it.

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