Making new friends in 2023 thread: join me?

[Lentilweaver]

Like many people here, I have lost friends in the pandemic because they have moved away, drifted or just dropped me:) Also began WFH- not by choice- so that reduces the pool too.

I am trying very hard to make new friends in 2023.

What I have done so far:
Starting a book club in January in a social group I am part of
Reached out to someone I know only on Twitter suggesting a coffee ( same profession)
Suggested a walk in the park to a local contact I met once but hit it off with..

Join me?

Gosh no replies? This is the subject of so many threads on here.

I am with you on this.
I live in Central London and there are so many events going on and I am a member of a few clubs in London. I do meet people, I would say a lot but I wouldn't call any of them 'friends'. Meeting with people is a one thing but keep in touch is another thing.

Gosh, you have been proactive, well done. I had am aiming to do this as well as my résolution for next year. Have had a lot of success finding new activités ( don’t work), found some friends but now want to expand on this. I am also going to try to be better at keeping in touch with my old friends.

Are you inviting people to join your thread to become friends or to share ideas of how to make friends? (Not that it matters, it's just not clear).

I seem to have found myself friendless
I used to be part of a few friendship circles - friends from school, friends from one job, friends from another job, etc. over the years people have got married, had kids, so have less time available to meet and different priorities, some have moved away. So I find myself with a number of people to text or occasionally call, but no one to actually spend time with, go for dinner with, meet for a walk. This made worse of course by lockdown and now I also mostly work from home. I feel pretty lonely a lot of the time. Would love to put myself out there to groups and clubs but I've lost a lot of confidence in doing it.

I've lost 'friends' in lockdown, they were a couple who put their house up for sale and have now moved away without a word to me, so hurtful. I think one may have the start of dementia as she had previously had rows with her other friends and cut them off seemingly for silly reasons. Neither they, nor I seem to know what we've done.
Another seems to be controlled by her partner, and another I'm only in sporadic contact with via facebook.
I'm very alone but will try and go to a couple of places around here for coffee mornings etc. I'm wary though as I just seem to walk into cliques in places I've been to before.

Count me in if it is to make connections and have a friendly chat .

I love this thread OP
I have had a shocker of the last 1 years and find myself a bit lonely at times.i think I have had the same experience as you with friends My 2023 resolution is to build my social life up more.
Currently my ideas are : reach out to friendly colleagues
There's a new bookshop in my town that is starting a bookgroup so I will go to that when it starts up.
Today I read my book in a coffee shop I rarely go to and it was very busy and friendly so I was thinking of making that my Saturday morning breakfast spot

I really like the idea of this thread to chat about our progress.

Sorry, wasn't clear. The thread is to share ideas on how to make friends and motivate each other. Not to make friends on MN. ( I need IRL friends):)

I am in Central London too, so a lot of stuff to do. Making friends is harder, of course.

I’ll join the chat here.
I am lonely. I have friends / acquaintances but no one to go to if I wanted to really talk about a problem or get another opinion - a best friend if you like ( although I’m not 12!
I work in a big team but no one at work is a ‘friend’ .
I find that if I join something eg bookclub that others seem to hit it off and go out doing other things… but that never happens to me.

Since I had ds 8 months ago allot of friends have dropped me as I can't go out partying with them like I used to it's gone from messaging every day to only replying if I message them. But in the new year I'd like to make some mum friends. I've enrolled Ds in a few baby clubs, activities and classes in January so hoping I meet some nice people there.

The subject is getting interesting.

Have you tried 'City Social', 'Women's Clubs' Meet Ups'?

Are these only London based or are they national?
I tried the meet up app where I am but it was no good. It was the same 15 people each time, and so the events were always sold out as soon as they were uploaded

I have tried Meetup and made some fun acquaintances. Hoping some develop into friends!

I think it is easier to make friends with small DC, but mine are grown.

Brilliant thread,its my resolution too. So far I have got back in touch with an old friend, and accepted an invite ftom a neighbour...

They organize offline events in London and in many cities. I mainly see expats with professional jobs but you can find more specialized subjects depends on what you like.. Gallery visits, concerts, walking, town visits etc..

Very little MeetUp activity in my area and what there is seems to be mostly 'social evenings'.

My reason for wanting to make new friends is that my social life currently revolves around the local pub and I no longer drink. The nearest specifically sober social activity I can find is over two hours away and first thing on a Saturday morning, so not practical.

I joined an exercise class and was invited to go for coffee afterwards, but very quickly three women left for various reasons and those remaining don't have time for coffee. One of the ladies might have been someone to go to gigs with, but I have no way of contacting her.

All rather disappointing, but I will try again next year

Have a look at your local Social Clubs, mine does a weekly quiz night, so I might get out of my comfort zone and take a look.
Id like to see the WI start a younger section. I’m aware of a local WI and they seem to do lots of crafts that I wouldn’t be interested in.

Would like to make some mum friends. Have joined a couple of activities for 3 year old DD, toddler groups etc. There is one mum's group on particular where I feel like there is the possibility of making friends, but I am wary of going about it wrong, some mutual support would be great.

Has anyone else had a private message after posting in this thread ?

Yeah, I looked into local WI after some recommendations on here in a similar thread.

I would quite like to try get a little 'at home' group (possibly alternating houses) going. It would be for improving psychic awareness etc. Eg. You all paint a few blobs on a bit of paper, fold it over and open out. Then exchange papers with your partner and 'read' what it says about them.

I love this. One of my goals for 2023 is make new friends. I have been working out from home, but this week I'll go get a membership at a gym.

I wish I could attend a book club, none where i live. Maybe I can start one, not sure how.

Thanks for the thread!

Today I went for a walk in the park with a woman I have met once at a social group. We ended up chatting over coffee for 3 hours!

@readingismycardio You can find book clubs at your local library perhaps? Or Meetup? Or start one by putting up a notice somewhere? Not sure if that is safe though but could be if at school or church or similar setting.

Hi I am in the same boat, my social circle has diminished over the years so I’ve taken the plunge and decided to set up a book club locally. There is one which already exists via Meetup but is too large, I am someone who prefers smaller groups as I am quite shy. Definitely out of my comfort zone to instigate this but figured if I want to activate change I need to put my big girls pants on and just go for it! We are meeting in a local pub on Friday eve to chat about how to develop it, I’m quite excited!

I found this online with some good tips about setting up a book club

www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/book-club/running-a-club/