How do you make friends?

[katakatica]

So - the question is more or less simple (though might sound odd at first) but... I'm mostly addressing people who freelance more or less full-time (or at least work from home/away from large offices. 

As an expat/immigrant/digital nomad (a bit of everything, honestly), I often find it a struggle to find like-minded people at first. I'm not a huge fan of large gatherings so that might also be why! That being said, what's great about my schedule is that it's flexible for the most part. If someone wants to go out on a Tuesday evening, I'm totally OK to go! 

Still - working from home/alone gets a bit lonely sometimes. 

So.. what are your ways to make sure you still socialise? Do you have a large network of friends around you? Or if you've settled down near home, did you manage to keep in contact with old friends?

(this is genuinely out of curiosity! I have very social weeks and then just... disappear into nothing for a month but it's a decent balance to be honest, however I'm also not completely alone here which is why I think my experience might be a bit different from others!)

[aashirsulehriya]

I don't have any friends 😃

When i feel lonely, i go to parties or gatherings to socialize with people. I am very introvert kind of person, i don't enjoy large gatherings but just to kill my loneliness i had to go to such places.

Sometimes, i take my laptop to any cafe and do work from there just to make sure that i am surrounded by people 😃

[toyin_write]

I guess it's a good start to having new friends then

[kendal1747]

I like to visit the VA hospitals. Some of those people are very lonely. (I know; it is a place to possibly get some kind of bug.) My brother was in the military and he passed 5 years ago. He told me how lonely he was when he was wounded and no family nearby. In memory of him, I hope I am helping someone else. I have made a lot of friends and their families, hope to get to know many more.

[mandyzines]

Connection is one of my core values and for it to feel complete as well as genuinely human I need it to be in flesh, so I do make a point of physically seeing people that I love and attending things that I'm invited to.

I met my best fried on Reddit, of all (truly wretched) places, a couple of years ago and now we both drive a considerable distance to be together.

I found Discord when I attended training sessions a little over a year ago, and have since wandered into a group of like-minded people where I do a significant portion of my work-from-home tasks in voice chat. It feels similar to being in an office with coworkers around but in no way does it replace the actual connections I had with the many people I came in contact with through work pre 2020 lockdowns.

And then there's my cat, which has helped keep me close to sane some of the time. He counts, my old man.

Edited January 25 by mandyzines

[words_to_wow]

10 hours ago, kendal1747 said:

I like to visit the VA hospitals. Some of those people are very lonely. (I know; it is a place to possibly get some kind of bug.) My brother was in the military and he passed 5 years ago. He told me how lonely he was when he was wounded and no family nearby. In memory of him, I hope I am helping someone else. I have made a lot of friends and their families, hope to get to know many more.

I agree that many veterans at VA hospitals seem very lonely.  When I go there, I always find myself in conversation with much older veterans. Honestly, it's kind of sad. For some of them, the military was all they knew. But it's kind of you to visit. Maybe volunteering could be an option.

[maheennadeem814]

I guess this casual talk is the perfect way to make some new friends. Although I do not have many friends whenever I feel alone I spend time with my mom. She is my best friend but hey everyone let's be friends 😇

[malik_zaf]

I like sincere friends mostly friends are so mean that's why I prefer fiverr is my best friend.    

[toyin_write]

So true that i can't agree less