Make new friends

New friends

Making new friends strengthens your resilience

Most of us have heard that we need strong social support structures to thrive, but how do we put them in place? How do make new friends?

My friend Mila is brilliant at it. The first time I met her, I was in the park walking my Border Collie. She said “Do you you like exercise? Most Border Collie owners like exercise. Would you like to join our outdoor training group?”

This wasn’t a sales pitch. It was a pitch for new friendship.

Two years later, I am still part of the same group . We are all vastly different. But we all like exercise and we all like Border Collies, so as eclectic we are, we have turned a common interest into sustaining friendship.

Finding new friends is often about two things. First, being courageous enough to consider new friendships in the first place. And second, looking for that thing in common that will be the starting point of a new connection.

In my practice, I find that many of my clients feel they have let their friendships go as the busyness of the day to day has taken over.

But friendship is not a ‘nice to have’. When life gets challenging, our friends become our support network. They can be the crux of our resilience. Investing time into your friendships will help you sustain your future. Nothing has made this more apparent to me than working in a hospital. Every day, we had to consider who would be around to support this patient. Sometimes it was family, sometimes a neighbour, often it was friends. Sometimes there was no one.

So amidst the busyness of day-to-day life, make time for friendship… and be brave…like Mila.