Quote:
Originally Posted by clearskies
Ok, I guess I'll be the odd man out...
An introvert by nature, I've learned to become more extroverted thanks to DH being military. I NEED girlfriends. I need people to watch my kids while I get my hair cut and listen to my rants about DH and celebrate all the little 'mom' victories. So I have learned to be bold. To put myself out there (very soon after arriving at each duty station). To invite other people to join me for activities.
Does every friendship work out? No. Would I tell all these girls everything? No. But each base I have found 1 or 2 "home run" friends and a whole bunch of first-third base friends. They each serve a purpose in my life and I'm grateful for that.
Life is an adventure. I want to share the journey.
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I agree that in order to make friends as adults you really do have to put yourself out there. You have to take affirmative steps to reach out to other people and MAKE them be your friend.
It's definitely harder than in school where you just are naturally thrown together with your peers all day. I made "Connect" my word of the year a couple years ago and really made an effort to take the first step to reach out and invite people to lunch or coffee or whatever. It's hard work (and awkward at first, especially if you are naturally shy like me) but it does work, over time. I know I always get a little lift when someone reaches out to me to invite me to something so I try to think about that when I'm feeling unsure of whether to reach out to someone else.
I can see that it would be more frustrating though, if you were moving all the time and had to start over each time!