Since I have maybe 2 readers, this question may not get answered, but I’m going to ask anyway. How, as an adult, do you make new friends? I know what I would tell someone: at work, volunteer somewhere, church, social groups….. Well let me tell you, those answers seem easy enough, but believe me they are not.
I consider myself easy to get along with. That is not the issue. The issue is, when I moved here I was working from home AND this town isn’t the greatest for social groups. I searched to see if there were any alumni groups for the sorority I was in, and to my surprise there is. Unfortunately, no contact information on the sorority website. I downloaded an app, the name escapes me now, but all the posts of people in my area were from women 20 years younger than me that were looking for play dates for their children. I considered trying what Shayden Walker, a 11 year old fellow Texan did, start ringing doorbells.
I am looking for a job, which will hopefully help. I really loved working from home, but that won’t help me meet any friends. Honestly, it’s depressing. Loneliness sucks. I know it will get better, but after almost a year of being here, I thought I would have made a friend by now.
Guess I just needed a pity party today.
I wrote this post about 8 months ago and never published it. I’m not sure why, the reason escapes me. I still have not made any friends, but I’m not depressed like I was when I wrote this post. I am still looking for a job, which has been very frustrating. I have had a couple of interviews. I know the last place I interviewed with called my references, but I never received a call back. No thanks, but no thanks, no form email saying they hired someone else, nothing. I did hiring for many years and in my opinion, not calling or emailing a person back after an interview is very unprofessional. Another problem is so many places don’t hire based on experience, they hire based on who you know. I have more experience than required for both of the jobs, but here I am still unemployed. I have made it my goal to get a job and I have committed to searching for 20 minutes every night and applying for at least 2 jobs a week. I have high hopes for the last two positions I have applied for. Fingers crossed!
“Sociologists have kind of identified the ingredients that need to be in place for us to make friends organically, and they are continuous unplanned interaction and shared vulnerability. As we become adults, we have less and less environments where those ingredients are at play.”
–Marisa Franco, University of Maryland psychologist
Sweet Peas In Summer 