How to Make New Friends After Moving

One of the toughest things you’ll need to do after relocating is start a new social network. This can be extremely difficult if you’ve lived in one place for a long time and have a huge network of friends and family that you’ve built up over the years. But, if you move to a new country, culture and value differences can make this process even more difficult. If you happen to be somewhat shy, then the process of meeting people in general may feel overwhelming and unpleasant. It’s no wonder that many people spend the first weeks, even months, after moving feeling homesick, and yearning for their friends back home.

On top of these difficulties, it can sometimes be tough to understand where to go to meet new people if you’re not familiar with a new town and it’s resources. And, in another country, you also have the added challenge that certain behaviors you’re accustomed to may be insulting in your new home, and you could accidentally offend potential new friends instead of winning them over!

With all these difficulties, it’s no wonder that many people end up feeling lonely and isolated after moving to a new country. These feelings can easily lend to depression and giving up on the mere attempt to meet anyone new.

To avoid getting into a rut when recreating your social network, try to remember:

1. Your old friends are wonderful, and they’re still your friends, they just don’t share your geography any more.
2. Having a friend or two who do live in the same place is important for a whole bunch of reasons, not to mention that it will make you feel better to know you have a friend “right next door”.
3. Look forward, not backwards – find opportunities to meet new people, rather than focusing on the friends you miss, or the people with whom you haven’t been able to connect.
4. It takes time to create a new social network. You’re not going to meet a whole bunch of people, or have a best friend, overnight. Even if you’re an extreme extrovert, cultural differences and value differences can make it more challenging than you expect to meet new people.
5. Judgments and expectations can not only hinder your efforts to meet new friends, they may also be inaccurate. Try to assess yours.
6. Find ways to surround yourself with people who share your interests – it’s one of the easiest ways to get a conversation started.

For a plethora of great tips and strategies to meet people and make new friends after moving, I invite you to join The Socialnaire Club! Full of weekly strategies and assignments to help you start a new social network in as little as 30 days. Just visit http://www.socialnaire.com for more information.

From Heather Markel, The Culture Transition Gal, helping you learn to feel at home anywhere in the world!