If you’re feeling lonely, you aren’t alone (no pun intended!). Today, so many people live away from their families and the friends they grew up with, or in big cities where people become anonymous faces.
When moving cities, or starting at a new school or job, loneliness can feel like a beast at times. Loneliness can also feel like a curse if you grew up painfully shy and never managed to build a social network in the first place. It’s possible to turn things around though.
Below, you’ll find some great ideas for overcoming loneliness to start having a ton of fun!
Join a Meetup Group… or Five!
Meetup Groups are brilliant. As someone who travels a lot, I know these groups exist in most major cities and allow you to meet people in an instant. The great thing about them is that they are so varied—you’ll find groups for everything from start-ups to paganism and screenwriting. Take your pick!
Travel with Friends
If you are moving to a new city, a great way to meet people is to join couchsurfing where you can find a couch to sleep on for free while looking for a place to rent. If you’ve already found a place, there’re lots of events for couch surfers in the city where you can meet and mingle.
The good thing about these events is that there will be a lot of other people showing up not knowing anyone there as they are traveling, but there will also be couch surfer’s from the city meaning you can make new friends who will actually stick around.
It’s a stunning network of travelers who know what it’s like to travel the world, relying on the kindness of strangers. As a result, they are usually a friendly crowd.
AirBnB is another option if you are new to a city and looking for somewhere to stay while trying to find permanent accommodation. Most AirBnB hosts are friendly as they rent out part of their houses to guests.
They aren’t necessarily as involved with their guests as couch surfers though as the couch surfing community is all about travelers coming together to share experiences, while AirBnB is about making money.
Both AirBnB and Couchsurfing offer the opportunity to go away for the weekend and meet people in a nearby town. Go on a road trip and make friends in the process!
Take Up a Hobby
It may sound clichéd, but one of the best ways to meet new people is to get interested in something and start taking part in events surrounding it. For example, if you start doing salsa, tango or swing dancing, there are parties to join as soon as you’ve learnt the basics.
If you join an art class, you can easily ask fellow classmates if they care to join you for new exhibitions and vernissages.
If you are spiritually inclined, joining a church, a coven, a meditation group or whatever else takes your fancy is also a great opportunity. Usually, yogis are quite spiritual and there will be yoga classes, movement and dance classes to explore your body and mind as well as meditation classes to join—not to mention longer workshops and retreats.
Retreats, Workshops and Private Membership Clubs
A great way to meet people is to go on a retreat in or just outside your town. When you are together with people 24/7 for a couple of days, you tend to get to know them better than if you were to just see them at random events.
In bigger cities, there are often weekend workshops as well where you can immerse yourself in something for an entire weekend. These kinds of immersion courses usually contain group exercises and bring people together faster than a cannon ball can fly due to the courses’ intensity.
There are also weekend workshops in body language, social skills, personal development and so on if you feel you need to overcome shyness. And why not challenge yourself to classes in drama, improv and comedy while you’re at it? They’re all guaranteed to make you break out of your shell!
In many bigger cities, there are also private membership clubs. Some are fancier than royalty while others are geared towards creative types or freelancers who spend a lot of time working from home. There are also shared workspaces in most cities if you are a freelancer.
Check Out Online Dating
Online dating can take a while to pay off, or you might meet someone straight away. The good thing is if you challenge yourself to go on dates, even with guys or gals you don’t especially think you will fancy (you’ll be surprised by some!), you will get out of the house. No, one date might not lead to another, but at least you will spend an hour or two socializing.
Do you have any tips of your own to add to these suggestions? Feel free to share them below.
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