{"id":10623,"date":"2024-08-02T09:05:40","date_gmt":"2024-08-02T09:05:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=10623"},"modified":"2024-08-02T09:25:20","modified_gmt":"2024-08-02T09:25:20","slug":"5-ways-to-make-friends-without-joining-a-book-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=10623","title":{"rendered":"5 Ways to Make Friends (Without Joining a Book Club)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><\/div>\n<p id=\"article-summary\" data-testid=\"onsite-summary\" class=\"css-79rysd e1wiw3jv0\">Experts share strategies for connecting that actually work.<\/p>\n<section class=\"meteredContent css-1r7ky0e\">\n<div class=\"css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">My sister Dinah recently told me about an unusual way that she made friends after her divorce. Her youngest was starting her college search, and Dinah was nostalgic for when her children were small. So she started babysitting for a family with toddlers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI have this lovely family in my life,\u201d she said. \u201cI also talk with parents at school pickups, just like I did with my kids. It\u2019s a whole new circle of people I\u2019d never normally meet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Many of us <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/05\/07\/well\/live\/adult-friendships-number.html\" title>crave more friendship and community<\/a>, and <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/journals.plos.org\/plosmedicine\/article?id=10.1371\/journal.pmed.1000316\" title rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">stacks of evidence<\/a> show how important these are to our health. But it can be hard to know where to begin. So, I asked experts what actually works.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"css-15h6bi9 e1gnsphs0\" id=\"link-57e3097a\"><span>Start with an exercise.<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Danielle Bayard Jackson, a friendship coach and the author of \u201cFighting for Our Friendships,\u201d has clients start by listing as many answers as they can think of to this prompt: \u201cI am _____.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A small portion of the answers I might fill in would be: a mom, a gardener, a baker, a book lover.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Then Jackson asks her clients if they are plugged into communities that reflect those parts of their identities. If not, she said, now they know where to focus their energies, whether it\u2019s on those who share their faith, their love of art or their cultural background.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"css-15h6bi9 e1gnsphs0\" id=\"link-3e18e3fc\"><span>Become a regular.<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The more you show up somewhere people gather \u2014 a class, a park \u2014 the more opportunities there are to create a connection, said Jeffrey Hall, a professor of communication studies at the University of Kansas.<\/p>\n<div class=\"css-1336jj\">\n<div class=\"css-121kum4\">\n<div class=\"css-171d1bw\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"css-asuuk5\">\n<div class=\"css-7axq9l\" data-testid=\"optimistic-truncator-noscript\">\n<div data-testid=\"optimistic-truncator-noscript-message\" class=\"css-6yo1no\">\n<p class=\"css-3kpklk\">We are having trouble retrieving the article content.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-3kpklk\">Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-1dv1kvn\" id=\"optimistic-truncator-a11y\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/myaccount.nytimes.com\/auth\/login?response_type=cookie&amp;client_id=vi&amp;redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F08%2F02%2Fwell%2Flive%2Ffriends-community-connections.html&amp;asset=opttrunc\">log into<\/a>\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&amp;redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F08%2F02%2Fwell%2Flive%2Ffriends-community-connections.html\">subscribe<\/a>\u00a0for all of The Times.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-1g71tqy\">\n<div data-testid=\"optimistic-truncator-message\" class=\"css-6yo1no\">\n<p class=\"css-3kpklk\">Thank you for your patience while we verify access.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-3kpklk\">Already a subscriber?\u00a0<a data-testid=\"log-in-link\" class=\"css-z5ryv4\" href=\"https:\/\/myaccount.nytimes.com\/auth\/login?response_type=cookie&amp;client_id=vi&amp;redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F08%2F02%2Fwell%2Flive%2Ffriends-community-connections.html&amp;asset=opttrunc\">Log in<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-3kpklk\">Want all of The Times?\u00a0<a data-testid=\"subscribe-link\" class=\"css-z5ryv4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&amp;redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F08%2F02%2Fwell%2Flive%2Ffriends-community-connections.html\">Subscribe<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Experts share strategies for connecting that actually work.My sister Dinah recently told me about an unusual way that she made friends after her divorce. Her youngest was starting her college search, and Dinah was nostalgic for when her children were small. So she started babysitting for a family with toddlers.\u201cI have this lovely family in my life,\u201d she said. \u201cI also talk with parents at school pickups, just like I did with my kids. It\u2019s a whole new circle of people I\u2019d never normally meet.\u201dMany of us crave more friendship and community, and stacks of evidence show how important these are to our health. But it can be hard to know where to begin. So, I asked experts what actually works.Start with an exercise.Danielle Bayard Jackson, a friendship coach and the author of \u201cFighting for Our Friendships,\u201d has clients start by listing as many answers as they can think of to this prompt: \u201cI am _____.\u201dA small portion of the answers I might fill in would be: a mom, a gardener, a baker, a book lover.Then Jackson asks her clients if they are plugged into communities that reflect those parts of their identities. If not, she said, now they know where to focus their energies, whether it\u2019s on those who share their faith, their love of art or their cultural background.Become a regular.The more you show up somewhere people gather \u2014 a class, a park \u2014 the more opportunities there are to create a connection, said Jeffrey Hall, a professor of communication studies at the University of Kansas.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe\u00a0for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in.Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10625,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10623"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10623\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10626,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10623\/revisions\/10626"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}