May be there is this new person you recently met or you just found yourself in a new environment and you have all the feels within you. You are so nervous and anxious about this new place and loneliness is beginning to set in from you just being on your own. “What are the effective ways for me to make friends?”
“How do I start?” You ask.
You feel so overwhelmed and the thought of starting all over, is really getting you discouraged.
Here are some insights on how to relate with the people around you, make new friends and build better and lasting friendships.
6 Effective Ways To Make friends.
1. An effective way to make friends is to be friendly
If you want to make friends, you need to make the decision before you meet people that you would be friendly.
You need to loosen up and get out of your comfort zone. You need to put yourself out there and be intentional about it. You need to make up your mind to meet people and communicate with them.
When you are intentional about something, you decide to do what you can, to make it work. This same rule goes for meeting new friends. You need to desire it and also strive to see it work.
Related: 20 Reasons Why You Are Lonely In the Midst of Friends
2. Treat others with respect
Treat others as you would want to be treated. Do to others as you would have them do to you. If you cannot tolerate it, do not try to feed it to others.
In other words, you can’t take it? Don’t dish it. Whether it’s in the way you address others or the way you do things, you need to put yourself in the shoes of others.
Ask yourself, if I was treated the way I just treated this person, how would I feel? If you can do this, it would help you in the way you approach all of your relationships and also help you make friends quicker.
3. To make friends, don’t isolate yourself
If you find yourself in a gathering whether big or small, socialize with people.
Get to know others and be comfortable with talking with them.
You can pick on a topic you enjoy and talk about it or you could also talk about what you enjoy doing and places you love to visit.
Related: 30 Reasons Why You Should Let People Into Your Life
4. Seek friends of like minds and shared interests
It’s easier to make friends with someone you both enjoy doing same things. Shared activities bring people together.
Go to places where you would find them, be it at the gym, social gatherings or other places of interest.
5. Giving Gifts is an effective way to make friends
As it is often said, the gift of a man (or woman) makes a way for him. The same goes for friendships! Who can say “no” to a gift especially if its on your “must get” list?
Not me!
Get to know the person you want to be friends with and find out what he or she really likes. Don’t worry if you can’t find out from the person themselves, you can always work your way around that.
Look for people or friends that know this person quite well. Ask them what he or she really loves and get it for them. Doing this, would get their attention and make them wonder why you went the extra mile to get them the gift.
It even works more wonders, if its something they cannot afford or something they need immediately. Either ways, make it a thoughtful gift and not a thoughtless one. Nobody wants that.
Related: 5 Ways To Build Close Friendships
6. Go first
Make up your mind to go first. Say hi first.
Don’t wait on the other person to do it. If they don’t, you go for it. You may encounter some snubs along the way but keep doing it.
When it comes to adults or people older than you, the natural thing is to go first in saying your greetings out of respect (depending on the part of the world where you are from) I am not talking about that.
I am talking about with your peers and colleagues, including people you are meeting for the first time. If you find yourself in a new place, make up your mind to go first. This is an effective way to make friends
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Bonus Tip:
If you already have a circle of friends, make it a priority to seek them out and keep in touch with them. If it’s been a while since you’ve heard from a friend, go an extra mile to find out why you haven’t heard from them. Seek to know how they are doing or how they are feeling.
This helps them know you truly care and endears them to you even more, which in turn makes your friendship a long lasting one.
