I need friends

LegacyUser

Hi all,
Thanks for reading this.
I need friends. I found myself very isolated lately and whilst I am working on this with sessions I am far from feeling better simply because I just don’t have many close friends. I have broken up with my girlfriend over the last month and I have come to realise that I need new friends. I feel like I don’t have that group to hang out with right now for many reasons.
I’m 28 and I have lived in Galway for 8 years. I have friends at home and in Galway but we have grown apart for many different reasons. My core group of friends from school at home would be my main group. everyone is scattered around the world or getting married.
The other core group from Home ie the lads I have found myself becoming more and more distant. This is primarily down to lifestyle. They are very much so into drugs and can’t go out without sniffing something. I’ve done Drugs plenty of time and experienced more or less everything apart from heroine. I get it and understand why they love drugs but it’s just not me on a week to week basis. I would only really take something now a days if I was at a gig on a complete bender. Otherwise I can go about with out needing to.
Then I have my galway friends, those I have lived with, got on well from college. Majority of which have moved away.
At work, I don’t really have any close mates. Like I get on with everyone but we are just colleagues. Not much happens outside of it.
I love going hiking, weekends away, going to gigs and going out.
Has anyone in Galway been in this situation? I have checked out meetup but there does not seem to be much happening

Redser87

Not in Galway but I feel for you. A lot of people between 20 and 35 have experienced their friends moving away and it's not easy. Social media just isn't the same and outside of college it's hard to meet ready made groups of like minded people.
Would you consider volunteering? Maybe youth work or something in the outdoors. Or would you do a course with a mountaineering club, or kayaking or orienteering?

LegacyUser

Try meetup.com for connecting with grouos of like minded people...

The_Honeybadger

Join meetups, clubs or sports teams as suggested. I have also experienced what you are going through. I had a great social circle growing up and throughout college but we have all settled in different parts of the country / world and it’s difficult to maintain contact bar the odd wedding. Once marriage and kids come along everybody is mad busy and there is no time for anything else.

A colleague of mine joined my company last year, she moved down from Dublin to escape the rat race and crazy rents, so she knew nobody in the locality. She is now a member of a half dozen different clubs locally from tennis to triathlon and has a hectic social life. I know it’s not easy if you are not into this type of activity.

popa smurf

I moved away from my birth place as well OP and it can be tricky to fit in to a new group, I used to go out a bit at first to pubs and play some pool and darts if your any way handy you might get on the darts team and you would meet a few lads at that, but its not for everyone, I think most lads are in the same boat as yourself we might know plenty of people and can have the crack with them but we might not call them friends.