How do you make friends? I have no friends other than my SO and it has been that way for many years. Even for online friends I have trouble knowing when to message, what to say, and how often to start conversations. I usually convince myself they don't like to hear from and stop initiating conversations :(
Most recently, I've made some very interesting friends through volunteering. You're pretty much stuck with a group of people for a period of time and it gives you a perfect pretense to start conversations - and if you pick a cause you care about, you're very likely to meet like-minded people.
most notably, in-person friendships require much less time investment to develop than online friendships, IMO (not that online friendships aren't just as enjoyable)
Its truly a numbers game, though. Put yourself out there enough and eventually something will click.
Volunteering is a great way! You can also go to festivals with clubs (free market, ren fair, hobby conventions) and ask how to get involved. Just walk up to people and express intereat and ask how to participate. Oftrn they'll be excited to get you into the community.
Pick and choose. You'll meet a lot of toxic people. You need to identify toxic traits such as bullying or people ignoring your needs.
Lastly, you're going to mesh with some people. The people you end up talking to for a long time. It's 1 in a thousand for me. So, wide net.
I agree. Sometimes you get very lucky. I was volunteering at a boy scout camp and happened upon an absolute nerd of a man. Same kind of computer nerd as me. (linux, open source hardware) the whole nine. We just worked together at random too.
Basically go volunteer, you'll run into interesting people.