Make New Friends....

“Make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other is gold. A circle is round it has no end that’s how long I want to be your friend.”

Growing up I was a Girl Scout and the above song was sang for all sorts of reasons... typically when we were ending an event with other troops. I am sure some of you can remember standing in a circle singing this song. The last couple of weeks this song has been playing on repeat in my mind.

I suppose the reason this song has been on repeat in my mind is because I recently moved to a new area several hours away from my primary friend group. As an introvert I am not one to make a lot of friends quickly because things like small talk are annoying to me and when I meet a new friend I want to go deep and know the important things like goals and dreams. However, here I am in a new place (where I have some old friends from many many years ago) and a workplace where I am trying to navigate making new friends in the midst of COVID. Walking into a new workplace is hard enough in normal times, however as I am learning even harder when we start to consider COVID. No longer do I have facial expressions to help read between the lines, and it's not like you can go get coffee with your coworkers because everything is closed or outside and now its getting cold.

The other places people find friends are places like church or the gym or activities that are shared. Right now even those are not really an option. Most churches are outside if in person or on some sort of streaming services. I don't know about you but I only have so much capacity for video church and relationships. The gyms and most social actives are also on pause (at least in California). Yet, here I am trying to make my way through building connections as best as I can.

How are you managing making new friends in this season? Are they living solely on the computer screen? Are you struggling right now? Let's chat!