How many friends do you have? But the real ones. Because there are many friendships, also acquaintances, and yet true friends can be counted on the fingers of one hand. As the years go by, we lose touch with old friends and meet new people, but it is increasingly difficult to establish a strong and authentic bond. If you wonder how to make real friends, we have the answer. You are always in time to find new friends.
The importance of friends
- Surely you have unforgettable childhood friends, you also have some contact with your high school classmates and most likely you maintain a relationship with friends from the University. However, your group of friends dissolved a long time ago because each one followed her own life and in many cases your life choices are incompatible with the schedules and interests of the others. And you also have a few beers when you leave work with some of your colleagues.
- But you feel alone. You have many acquaintances but no one to turn to in the most important moments of your life, in good times and in bad. That’s because you don’t have real friends, friends to call when you get promoted at work, when you fall in love, or when you feel euphoric and full of vitality. Friends to turn to when everything goes wrong and your life falls apart. Friends with whom you feel part of something bigger. Because friendship is something great, a treasure and a source of happiness.
- Don’t you have real friends? Relax, it is never too late to create authentic friendships.
Can you make new friends?
Of course you can make new friends. It doesn’t matter where you are in your life, because there are always opportunities to meet new people and create friendships. But how do you make new friends?
- At work. Although many people do not want to have more relationship than necessary with their coworkers, the truth is that we spend many hours a day with them. A good option is to look at your colleagues from another perspective, as people with whom you share time, concerns and surely many interests.
- New friends. But maybe you want a change of scenery and discover different people who can bring something new to your life. To achieve this, there is nothing better than signing up for an English, dance or Ancient History course, whatever you like best and socializing with your classmates inside and outside the course.
- Unbreakable ties. A place where you establish a special connection with other people are NGOs. Yes, they are not there to improve your social life, but to improve the lives of the most disadvantaged people, but if you volunteer, you will be able to meet people as well as feel better about yourself.
- Go from acquaintances to friends. In these places you can meet people and add them to your acquaintances list, but the goal is to make friends, so you have to go one step further. Open up emotionally in your conversations, talk about personal things and ask about the other person’s emotions. It is about taking the step from the general to the particular, from social conversations to personal conversations.
- Points in common. You’re not going to really get to know a person by talking about the sunny day he’s having today. You have to go deeper and, above all, empathize with the other person. In addition, true friends have common interests or complementary characters, something that you can only discover if there is a more personal approach.
- What to talk about to make friends. Social skills may not be your thing, but don’t worry. Friendships are forged by talking about upcoming issues and surely you know well how you felt about the breakup, how bad you had during that illness, how much you enjoyed your last trip or the desire you have to achieve that dream. These are the topics that create friendships.
- Work friendship. But friendship relationships, like partner relationships, must be worked on and strive to maintain them. We all have a real friend that we never see and feel very close to, but we are not looking for that kind of friendship right now. We are looking for real friends with frequent contact and there we have to be constant.
- What about virtual friends. How can you feel lonely if you have 1000 friends on your Facebook? Are virtual friends not real friends? The issue of cyber friendship has a lot to discuss, but we have to resort to common sense. You may feel very loved when you receive more than 100 likes, but the truth is that you are at home alone looking at your computer with no one to tell you face to face that they like you. On social networks, true friendships can begin as long as that virtual relationship is transferred to real life.