When you are busy with work and home life, it can be really hard to make new friends. By the time you get home, you will be tired and will likely just watch some TV, or read a book. But being social is important for our happiness, and confidence. Our friends from school and college can often drift away when everyone moves away. You begin to like different things and will have less in common with them. Therefore, you should try and meet some new friends in your local area. Here are four places where you can go to meet new friends. 

Pub

A traditional way to meet people is in a pub. Making friends can be a scary prospect, and a drink or two can ease any pressure you may feel about talking to strangers. If they have games such as pool or darts, it’s an excellent way to connect with people. See if anyone fancies a game and you can start chatting. 

Online 

It’s a dangerous territory, but online can be a great place to meet new friends. If you are a fan of a certain sport or celebrity, they have fan pages where you can chat with other people who are fans of the same thing. Websites such as meetup.com can allow you to find loads of groups which you could join in your local area. Talking online is also good if you are not very confident, as it will allow you to speak more openly to others. Social media is also a great place to meet new friends. On sites such as Twitter and Facebook, you can see who else follows the same things as you, and you could start chatting with them. Just remember, there are some crazy people online who might be pretending to be someone else (Think Catfish) so be very careful.

Classes 

Classes are a great way to meet new friends. Check your local area for classes which you wouldn’t mind trying. An exercise class is a great place to meet new people, and you can get fit. You could also try social dancing classes such as Salsa or Ballroom Dancing. You could be partnered up with someone who could be a new friend in the future. A hobby class such as acting or cooking is also a great way to meet friends and learn a new fun skill.

Work

Your work is a great place to start when meeting new friends. If you often work on your own, find out whether the company does any social events that you could attend. If they are doing any charity activities such as a run, or a bake sale, you could ask if you could help. Also, you could suggest going for a drink with your colleague. You might be surprised that they would love some company after work.

Here are a further 50 places to go to meet new friends. Try and pluck up the confidence as friends can really make a difference to your life.