Friendships can be key to positive ageing
As you get older it’s common that your friendship circles tend to shrink, making it all the more important to keep socially active. As humans are naturally social creatures, our connections with others can have an impact on our wellbeing. Friends can bring joy, laughter, love and companionship to our lives. If you’re finding it hard to make new friends or maintain old friendships, you are not alone. Here are a few ideas to help you stay social in your 60s and beyond.
Get on social media
Joining social media sites like Facebook are a great way to reach out to long-lost friends or find new ones. With billions of people on Facebook all around the world, it’s a good way to find those old school mates or co-workers. There are also many online groups and pages (like us, Over60!) dedicated to older Australians. At pages like this, you can interact with likeminded people, share opinions and stories, and possibly make a new friend or two.
Join community groups and events
Joining hobby and interest groups can be another great way to make new friends, and while it might seem daunting at first to meet all these strangers, just remember that everyone is there to meet new people and make friends too, otherwise they wouldn’t have joined!
Visit your local library, council or church to find out about what groups or events are happing around you area. You can also search online for specific interest groups (for example art classes, knitting groups, dog walking groups) or look to friendship-based websites like MeetUp to search for various hobby groups, as well as senior groups. But you will have to commit yourself to going – you won’t meet new people by staying at home!
Catch up with your existing network
It’s natural for friendships to fade over time, but if you’re keen to reinvigorate them, sometimes all it takes is a simple invitation to catch up. It doesn’t take long at all for good friends to fall into old ways, so make the effort. And don’t just limit yourself to your established friendships, take a fresh look at your acquaintances: the neighbour you pass by all the time but don’t know, the co-worker you sit next to, or perhaps the fellow dog-lover you see all the time at the park. Make the first move to get to know them better and who knows what will happen?
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