Theologian Albert Schweitzer had this to say about meeting new people: “In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.” Human beings are social animals and most of us cannot thrive on our own. It’s good to be independent, but you should always surround yourself with people, friends you love and trust. They will rekindle that inner spirit and make you feel alive once again; they will help you out in times of need and be there for you when you want them to.

With age, it becomes increasingly difficult to make new friends. Remember how easy it was to befriend someone when we were kids? All you had to do is spark up a conversation and if you shared some interests, then you were automatically friends. Jerry Seinfeld used to joke about how easy it was to make friends when little saying “You like Cherry Soda? I like Cherry Soda! We’ll be best friends!”That was pretty much how things worked. As adults, making new friends is a mix of a job interview and a Lifetime movie – it can be tiring but also exciting and fun.

If you’re too busy to go out, or just don’t feel like it sometimes, you could try some online chat roomsand try to find people who share your interests and opinions. It is easy to approach people online, you don’t have to worry about appearances – so you ate some garlic and you haven’t brushed your teeth, so what?! The anonymity that chat rooms offer can be very comforting and empowering. Feel free to approach any subject you want and if at one point you feel you don’t connect with a person, simply thank them, close the dialog box and you can move on to someone else.

People really must appreciate all the methods there are of making new friends and meeting new people. We can’t simply dismiss something from the start thinking we will not like it, or that it’s not for us. Keep an open mind and give online chat rooms a chance, they’re a really good way to meet people in this day and age. Let’s say you’re not looking for friends, you can just have some harmless fun and chat to people from all over the globe and then return to your daily business. That’s how awesome the Internet is!