How to feel less lonely without making new friends?

[losenotloose]

I have some friends, a few close ones and some less so, but I often have a feeling that I'm missing out and a bit lonely. Some months there's lots going on but then there'll be a period where I don't see anyone for a while. Just people being busy etc but I would like something reliable in my diary that doesn't rely on these friends. I'd love to hear suggestions please! Thanks

It's not what you asked, but why don't you want to make any new friends?

Could a regular volunteer role or class/hobby group work?

How about a club, gym classes or volunteering?

You need a hobby :)

Maybe my title wasn't very good! I'm happy to make new friends and hope I do but I'm trying to find something I can do routinely without relying on them. Otherwise I'm at the mercy of other people's schedules!

Hobby ideas then please . I've done exercise classes which I enjoy but it's not very social

Book club, choir, walking group.

Tennis!

I might try a book club and choir, and maybe parkrun if I can bring myself to get up that early on a Saturday!

A running group with a regular Parkrun?

hobbies that eat up time

Watching. How do you find book clubs?

Are you religious?

Any suggestions?

I’ve just taken up painting - acrylics. Love it. Very consuming and takes aaagee. Lots of tutorials you follow online.

*aaaaages!

Model kits eg Airfix, Warhammer
Various card games eg pokemon, magic the gathering Arena (on google play store)
photography in nature walks etc
gardening

Two different friends joined boot camps at their local parks and enjoyed it, this is probably more of a summer thing.

Have you looked to see if you have any local Meet-up activities going on?

Walking group
Running club
Swimming group
Choir
'Friends' of local park, green space.
Language conversation class ... the kind that meets in a cafe.

The answer is always hobbies /meet-up groups and volunteering. It really depends on your area how lucky you’ll be with activities and types of people.

There wasn’t a book club near me so I started one in a local bar. The staff don’t mind because we buy drinks. There are about ten of us and we have a WhatsApp group. I started a Facebook just to get the word out locally but I only post an event each month for the next session and spam all the local Facebook groups a couple of times a year. I didn’t read much before and I’ve read about 12 books since Jan. It’s quite nice, we do go off topic a fair bit!

Church

We've a very active women's meet up group, ages 30 - 80 always something going on. This was started by a lady who was lonely after covid lockdown. It was advertised on our local FB community page and has gone from strength to strength.

Volunteering. I volunteer for a large museum in London (and have done other bits and bobs in a range of settings). I sign up for shifts when I want, they are in the diary so I can plan around them, no-one else is involved, but all my roles (all front of house/education related) have involved meeting lots of different people, a few of whom have become friends. And some low key social stuff is laid on too.

As pp have said it does depends very much where you live and what is available but I have found what I do great for giving me a bit of extra structure and engagement that doesn't depend on the holidays, schedules, dramas etc of friends (who I love seeing and do lots of stuff with). I can just crack on happily and have something different going on that can be stepped up or down.

Learn a new language, art classes, history society, dance class, film club, book club, chess club, board games, card games, sports, cooking course, dressmaking, pottery, tour guide, volunteer at the national trust, tree planting/conservation work, creative writing.