Any practical or tested advice for making new friends as an adult?

Current lifestyle

• WFH
• live alone
• have started going to fitness classes recently

That’s it

Sowry dawg, its too late

Maybe talk to people in the fitness class, ask them to hang out after class or work out together outside of class or something if you get along with them

F***

You don’t OP

Work maybe? Friends of friends/family? Go back to school/church? Thats really it.

S*** is tough bruh. My girl and I been trying to find some dope friends to hang out with. But its so hard to find in your mid 20s, especially because it seems everyone around our age can't do anything because they have kids

Be an organizer of people

So for example, maybe throw a party and tell the ppl in the fitness class to invite some people

honestly there's a lot of people lonely as f*** these days so I don't know if there's much open where you live but you could go ask a friend to go to bar or restaurant and try to talk to new people or even just get on tinder/bumble or whatever and and say that you would wanna meet up casually, maybe even with a few more of her friends and your friends etc. so you can get to know more people, honestly could even more fun than a superficial corny tinder sex-date, and if you really vibe with someone it can always turn out to be more than friends

What I do is enter the class then leave when the class is over. Currently hoping others would approach me and do the hard part. But it seems like I need to start the small talk? Im afraid of the awkwardness of it and potential rejection

I could organize a meet up with my coworkers that are from the same city. I’ve been thinking about it but just haven’t done it.

Sort of glad this is a seemingly larger problem than just me

Hang around for a bit. If you come and leave as you are, that's cool, but people will just think you're not interested in company, so they'll mind their business.

Find a hobby with people interested in the same s*** and talk to them organically.
I’ve made all my friends post school from basketball or fight gyms.

Or just find one or two people and try to get to know them first.

I think a need to do a couple more steps between now and getting there but I’ll keep that in mind for the future

Similar hobbies/interest
Local areas that apply to your interests

In your case I think making friends at the gym is really easy. I met a lot of cool people I consider friends just going there and making small talk after my workout

Yeah you really need to put yourself out there to make friends as an adult, I came to this realization through some negative experiences

Just ask someone about their workout routine or some topical s*** like that and see if they seem interested in talking - it is very possible that they won't, but it's nothing personal

The best way to make friends without you having to take the first step is to find a naturally collaborative activity

Its hard NGL. Im a few years younger than you but I dont think ive made a genuine friend outside of my friends i grew up with and went to school with.

Idk I didn't know how to make friends as a kid or a teenager either though

Maybe just look at them until it creeps people out enough for them to ask you why you are staring at them and start a conversation that way

I’m really over the dating apps, I don’t think anything good ever comes out of it. I’ve kind of been dabbling with the BFF version of bumble but it’s hard to make a connection with people forcefully and artificially like that.

You’re right, I probably give off that impression. I’ll arrive early and leave later going forward!

Your threads in L&A be killing me sis come on

I’m going through some thangs

I really like the naturally collaborative activity idea, I’m going to look for things like that in my city this week and report back