After scouring the ‘Net for articles on making new friends (pathetic, I know) I feel confident that I’ll be able to pull this off without slipping back into the lone wolf status that’s shackled me for years. Although the contents of each article varied, they all emphasized one specific point: Just be yourself. Now, I’ve gained a remarkable amount of confidence and self-assurance this past year, so throughout my “planning” of this whole friendship process I was never too concerned about not being myself. But even the most confident of people can cower in fear in the face of unfamiliar/potentially scary situations, such as going to a new school. Hopefully I can stick to the inner oath I made about staying true to who I really am no matter what. If I just be myself, surely the friends will come to me!
Of course, I’ve got to put the effort in, too, since most of the time people won’t just gravitate towards you and establish a friendship right off the bat.
Almost always, the process of friendship appears to go like this: Saying hi/complimenting/smiling at new people → Getting acquainted→Obtaining contact information (phone numbers, Facebook, etc)→Making plans to hang out outside of the situation you met them in (This is the key to building sustainable friendships, apparently)→Keeping in touch.
Seems straightforward enough. My biggest challenge will be making plans to hang out outside of school, since I’m usually too shy to directly ask. It all goes back to confidence. I may be secure with myself as a person, but my social confidence, so to say, isn’t very high. It’s all my hands, though. If I truly want to break out of my shell and make lots of friends I just have to push past the fear and go for it. Even the most socially awkward person can make friends if they’re kind and genuine.
I’m excited to see where I go with this!