Making friends can be a beautiful, slow, growing process or you can be BFFs with someone instantly. Try this method.
1. Listen. Be curious, present, interested.
2. Be vulnerable. Share something unexpected.
3. Be open to what may come back your way! One of my BFFs to this day asked me to cut her hair the first day we met! LOL.
Because I moved so much as a kid, I never wanted to waste time in making really good friends. That usually included sharing the most embarrassing story I had about myself up until that point.
Like the summer I had to wear a really tight uniform onboard a ship and everyone was calling me donkey booty behind my back. These uniforms were issued to us during college in ROTC to be used in the summer when we spent a few weeks on a Navy ship to see what it was like. I took mine home and they seemed to be pretty tight. I took them back to the ornery supply chief and he yelled at me, “That’s what you get.” OK, well these were like mechanic onesies. They were dark blue and had a zipper running down the center. In order for a girl to go to the bathroom, you have to unzip them all the way, pull the upper part off and pull them down-basically undress.
I took them back home and gave them all a good washing. When I got to the ship that summer and put one on, I was mortified to see that it had shrunken even more in the drier and it was “camel-toe” tight with a high-water leg length. I looked like I was in a baby-GAP/J. Lo cat suit all summer. One day I heard someone say, “donkey,” under their breath as I walked by. How did I do that for 4 weeks??? I’m surprised I didn’t pinch off a limb.
Years later when I was officially a Naval Officer I got to buy my own uniforms instead of having them issued. One day, I actually got “counseled” for wearing a uniform that was too big for me. Once I was buying them for myself, the navy blue onesies I chose looked like a tarp, strapped onto me with a rope (the belt). When the wind blew by, I looked like a dumb-bell-balloon tethered by 2 black steel-toed boots.
What’s you “opener” when meeting new people? What do you think about people who share a lot on a first meeting? Good? Bad? Awkward?
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