Turn initial meetings into friendship

Making more friends in adulthood will take some deliberate effort. One challenge may be to put yourself out there, as it can trigger fear of rejection.

You may engage in two types of avoidance to prevent you from making new friends.

1. You may practise 'o...

Friendships don't just happen. We have to set aside time to regularly reach out to people, reconnect with old friendships, awaken new ones, check-in, and find time to hang out.

Don't just show up. Say 'hello when you get there. Let go of the myth that friendship ha...

To deepen a friendship, it pays to get vulnerable. To make true friends, you have to share things about yourself. Ask people questions too so that they share about themselves.

Tell people what your passions are, how you spend your free time, what you're looking forward to,...

Friends provide a comforting sense of stability and bonding. A defining feature of friendship is that it's voluntary - it's a relationship of great freedom that we hold on to only because we want to.

The downside of this freedom is that the lack of formal commitment and th...

Once you've initiated some new contact, the next challenge is turning them into regular friendships.

It is easier to sign up for activities where you have multiple opportunities to connect with the same people continually. If you want to make friends, you should commit to showing u...

The busyness of many people's adult lives can cause them to quickly lose contact with friends.

One study found that people had lost touch with about half of their closest friends over a period of seven years. What's more is that we are often losing friends faster than ...