Making friends in your 30s

[mumoftwoboys321]

Just wondering how people go about making friends when older
I have people I talk to but wouldn’t say I had friends I used to have a lot when younger but then settled down had children friendship group did the same some moved away some just stopped bothering and slowly over the years haven’t seen or spoke to most of them
I would say over the years I’m not the most sociable person kind of held myself back to be there for the kids and partner just curious how other people that might of been the same went about trying to find a friendship or two

At work, hobby/interest meetings, online groups, networking events related to my job, on holiday and while volunteering abroad, all sorts really. I’ve got better friends in my 30s than I’ve ever had in my life tbh as I’ve met like-minded people with similar interests but you do have to put yourself out there.

It’s the putting myself out there that I struggle with as not sure where to start that process starting to think it might be a hopeless thought but thank you for your comment

Most of the friends I made in my 30’s were via mother and baby groups or school mums.
Do you get time for yourself? Could you join a meet up group, walking group or do some volunteering? I’ve made lots of friends through volunteering but I don’t have young kids to look after.

Volunteering - it's easier to make friends with people when you have a shared project and have to rely on each other a bit.

honestly, you have to make a lot more effort than when younger, because people are busy and many already have their quota of friends so don't have time (Or feel the need) to make the effort to make more.

As pp's have said, the best way is to have something in common, ideally that you do regularly enough to get chatting to the same people and build from there. So either work, a hobby, kids' school, volunteering, etc. Ideally something you want to do anyway, so any friendships are an added bonus rather than the sole purpose.

Or take a short cut and try and revive some old friendships?

But you do have to really put yourself out there.

Thank you for the ideas will look in to a few of them and see how things go