Whether you are a social butterfly or prefer to be more closed off, making friends can be a difficult task. Even for those that can easily strike up a conversation, everyone has faced difficulties with figuring out what to say or whether to say anything at all.
Despite being a quiet person, I’ve always liked making friends and talking to people as long as I don’t feel too uncomfortable. My advice from personal experience would be to try approaching them and make an effort to talk to them, whether you make small talk or ask them a question that spirals into a longer conversation is up to you.
I prefer longer conversations because I tend to learn more about a person, but small talk is usually the best approach when you’re attempting to make new friends.
In my experience, some good conversation starters for small talk could be asking how someone’s day is, what they did today or if anything interesting happened throughout their day. If you’re in school, you can ask them when their next class is, what their favorite class is or ask them if they understand what you’re learning in class.
A lot of my close friendships were formed using these conversation starters, but it was not too difficult to maintain a conversation with someone who is suffering in the same class as you.
Other than finding new ways to make friends, you should also try to make sure that you’re making the right friends. Although there are things that can be done to prevent becoming friends with fake people, or simply bad people, it’s difficult to know who to look out for.
I’ve been friends with several fake friends so I’m able to tell you what red flags to look out for. Some of these are your friend excluding you from your group if you have one, hearing that your friend was saying stuff about you or telling other people personal things you’ve only told them or even your friend saying subtle remarks about anything you do.
On another note, when you’re looking to make a friend you should make sure they’re nice to you, but it’s okay if they’re also jokingly mean as long as they don’t cross your boundaries. You should also make sure they’re trustworthy and genuinely good for you, especially your mental health.
I think my friends are good people, especially for me and my mental health. I’m able to comfortably joke around with them, knowing I can tell them anything. I can go to them when I need to talk and they will always make sure I’m okay. I’m happy that I was able to meet good people and make them my friends and I hope that you can too.
