School is no joke. Ask a candidate for valedictorian anywhere and you will hear the same thing. Though a lot of adults disregard school, as hundred times easier than work, the kids who do go to school will tell you otherwise. There are kids whose lives revolve around school and home that they have no friends outside. For a serious student, sometimes it gets tough to make time to try and socialize with people outside school. This article will discuss some tips on how to proceed with such.
First of all, get out of the house during your free time and take time to see your neighborhood. You can ride your bike or skate if you like but if you are looking to interact with people, walking is the best thing you can do. Say hi to all the people you already know and take time to renew your acquaintances. Ask them how they are doing and what they are currently busy with. If you chance on coming across new neighbors, introduce yourself and try to make some small talk. If you have an extra-curricular activity you are interested in such as any kind of sport or hobby, find classes or organizations for it and sign up. That would be a great chance to meet people with the same interests as you have. If you are uncomfortable with making friends with people of different age groups, find something that caters to your age bracket.
During summers, ask permission if you can go to camp. Make sure to find a camp which suits you best and which has a considerable population of people your age. Staying at one place for periods at a time with some people can develop stronger bonds than with people you have known for a long time but share little experience with. If, for some reason, you cannot go to a camp, stick to the group/club/organization you signed up with. Always remember to try and start a chat with anyone you come across. Even if a person does not give you a great first impression, try to strike up a conversation – you just never know which one will end up a friend.
To make the most of your socializing, you can also try and volunteer for some special cases. For example, if you are an animal lover, find the nearest pet shelter and volunteer to feed the animals. This will allow your life to be productive while enriching your social network. Making friends while volunteering might be a good thing since you already know right from the get-go that the person you are befriending has a good side to him/her. If you have a religious family, mingle with the church-mates of the same age as you. Get together after church or try to set up charity works together.
You can also try talking to anyone that comes your way. And by anyone that means the delivery boy, the cashier in the grocery store, the nice old lady next to you in the bus, etcetera. There are times when you might never even encounter that person ever again, but you just never know which one will touch your life and which lives you might unknowingly touch. Oddly enough, sometimes the world works that way.
When you have already made small talk, always remember to be approachable and friendly. That way, the other person would want to open up a small bit of him or herself to you and that is the only way you can start being friends. You do not have to be downright funny, but try to be fun to be around. And remember, aside from being a good talker, be a good listener too. Hear the other person’s stories and remember them because if you are lucky, that other person will be a friend in no time.
Dennis Hampton is a Social Media Consultant who specializes in teaching Business Owners and Internet Marketers how to leverage the Internet and Social Media sites to help build a larger list, improve their relationship with their list, increase exposure to their list, and do this all automatically. Check out his blog at: "Dennis Hampton's blog - Any Business Made Easy"
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