When was the last time that you met someone and you just knew they were your type of person? You clicked – they were funny, they thought you were funny and you just had a big old-fashioned friend crush on them.
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I recently had an encounter with a girl that I got along with so instantly, I knew I had to be friends with her.
However, how on earth does one make friends as an adult?
It was a cinch in primary school. It was just a matter of asking a simple question: “do you want to be my friend?”
Is this something I can Google? Is there an app that can track my progress? Can I pay someone to do it for me?
How do you say “do you want to be my friend?” in grown-up language?
Making friends in high school was easy. For me, I didn’t have a standard and I was friends with anyone.
This girl takes the same walking route to school as me? Befriend her!
This girl’s mum knows my mum? Better sit next to her in English.
I remember at our graduation night, my mum turned to me and said: “Honey, take a good look at all these people, because one day you’ll never see them again.”
I just rolled my 17-year-old eyes and asked for 20 bucks.
She was right though, I haven’t seen a lot of them since.
The same rules in high school don’t apply to making friends as an adult.
You actually might have to leave your house as well, which is kind of a bummer, really.
Though, I’ve been pretty lucky in my adult life so far.
Some great people have just fallen into my lap.
I come from a small town. So if you were in said town, we were pretty much automatically friends just because.
And now that I work at a radio station, there are about 40 other people here who I can mix and match friendship circles with, mostly depending on who’s watching Married at First Sight at the moment.
However, given I don’t play any sports and I don’t really have any hobbies, who did I have to bribe to make a couple more friends?
So when I met a girl – someone completely removed from work and with no connection to my upbringing at all – I was perplexed.
How was I to ask her to be my friend?
This is where I bless social media. You can actually make connections without having to change out of your yoga pants.
A friend request wasn’t enough for me, though.
I asked her out for coffee and waited around by the phone, anxiously waiting for a reply.
She accepted the invite. It was a little awkward at first but, just like that, I was the proud owner of a shiny new friend.
Although it might feel super awkward in the beginning, putting yourself out there to make new friends is actually a very rewarding experience.
Of course, I was lucky to stumble upon my new friend.
But if you’re under a little friendship status stress, try asking someone out on a friend date.
Be confident. After all, wouldn’t you like to have a friend like you?
You’re new bestie could be waiting for you to find them.
