How do you make friends?

[deleted3782]

Think of the ten people that you consider your good friends. Where did you meet them? Have you met a greater percentage of friends through school or work? Have neighbors become lasting friends? The Internet? Or...are you the kind of person who strikes up conversation with people randomly while walking the dog, riding the bus, or shopping at your grocery store? Or...hae you met friends in bizarre ways...such as in a hospital or through legal procedures?

 

[B_Hickboy]

In jail.

 

[deleted3782]

In jail.

Swamps can count as "nearby neighbors".

 

[nudeyorker]

It's funny I was thinking about this early this morning. Friends evolve in the most extraordinary ways sometimes. I met one of my best friends on a flight from LA to Honolulu. I met another at a club in Honolulu and we ran into each other at Columbia University three years later. I met one of my favorite people in the world here at LPSG. Friendships seem so easy to forge when we are younger as we can build a history and memories together for some reason. But if you are willing to take a chance on friendship and love; age is not an issue. I met my best friend and life partner by chance in a department store in Los Angeles and we were set up on a blind date by a mutual friend a year later.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that real friendship is somewhat magical, but you have to be willing to give the magic a helping hand from time to time by taking a leap of faith.

 

[nudeyorker]

In jail.

Yeah Yeah Yeah... You complained about my aftershave the entire time!

 

[B_Hickboy]

Swamps can count as "nearby neighbors".

Tthat's funny, but some of my friends ARE from swamps, and I grew up in the middle of one myself. Hand to God. :biggrin1: Ask ManlyBanisters. She's been to the house I grew up in. There's a river behind it and in front there's a pine forest with a big old swamp smack dab in the middle of it.

 

[B_Hickboy]

Yeah Yeah Yeah... You complained about my aftershave the entire time!

Yes, but now that fragrance lingers, and every time a man walks by wearing it, oh, my...

 

[mitchymo]

I have had many friends but they have come and then gone. In some cases there was a natural drift apart and in others more recent a purposeful distancing.
At the moment i can honestly say that i only have a few good friends all of whom i work with. My love interests tend to be unrequited because i'm a bit of a fool when it comes to looking for significant others.
All in all i'm pretty much a loner but fortunately for me i can handle it without the feelings of loneliness or depression. Would i like more friends? sure, do i need friends? not as much as some do, i'm lucky in that respect i guess.

 

[HazelGod]

Think of the ten people that you consider your good friends. Where did you meet them?

There aren't ten people whom I would consider qualified by your description...but of those who do, they all go back at least to my days in college, and quite a few of them go back to high school.

 

[nudeyorker]

There aren't ten people whom I would consider qualified by your description...but of those who do, they all go back at least to my days in college, and quite a few of them go back to high school.

That is really interesting. Do you mind me asking if you live in close proximity to where you grew up and attended college? Or did you stay in touch with these people if not?

 

[Pendlum]

I only have like.. 3 or 4 good friends (not to say that my other friends are good people). I'm not good and making really close friends. I fall out touch pretty easily.

 

[camper joe]

I seem to make acquaintances, or to have social relationships with people, rather than to make a true friend I have learned. I have tried to makes friends with people but every time I think well I might have found a friend, I find I'm sadly disappointed. The people who I can call a true friend, are few and far apart.

 

[rbkwp]

Have to be honest and say i went for the other' category
met most of my friends (the most sincere) thru Work Related scenes.
(other was closer to the mark than School & Work)
enz

 

[B_theOtherJJ]

I never really had to make friends. Looking back, all the people in my life seemed to evolve as a "natural process", and I believe that is why the friendships have endured.

If you have to work at it, there will undoubtedly be trouble in paradise.

 

[flame boy]

I make them with 2 parts water and 1 part love. I bake them for 35 minutes at 8,000 degrees until crispy.

 

[ManlyBanisters]

I had a think and had to check all boxes.

Although - now I think some more I think maybe I shouldn't have checked childhood friends if you are talking about people I'm still close with - well, it kind of depends what you mean by childhood friends. If you mean under 10 then I shouldn't have checked that - if under 18 counts then I should have.

 

[deleted3782]

I never really had to make friends. Looking back, all the people in my life seemed to evolve as a "natural process", and I believe that is why the friendships have endured.

If you have to work at it, there will undoubtedly be trouble in paradise.

Although the title does indeed say "how do you make friends", I suppose I could have been clearer in the title by asking "In what context" do you make friends. The implication was not that making friends was difficult or forced...rather...in what context do you make friends. For example...do they just magically appear in your living room...or do you just have a lot of friends from childhood? I thought being so specific would have been a bit pedantic...so I simplified.

Mea culpa.

 

[Ethyl]

When I was much younger it was through school and work. Now I meet them through work, recreational activities, the odd class, certain societies and groups (some online some not) and the internet in general.

 

[D_Andreas Sukov]

For the past few years, ive really struggled with making friends. I find it really hard to start conversations with people and relied on my own "fool-proofed" means of making them, such as being a "fun" drunk. Thankfully i got sick of being known as a "fun drunk and have had to try and make them the old fashioned way. I still get most of my friends through other people which is annoying, but im getting better at breaking out of my shell.

 

[Deno]

Yeah I gave up on a lot of friends most of which had severe drug problems and I just had to get away from all that. I don't consider co-workers as friends more like friendly people. Customers that I deal with frequently are more like friends. Some I'd really like to get to know.