Work on your friendships

The COVID pandemic, with its emphasis on isolating from others, impacted my friendships.  The normal habits I had of reaching out and connecting with friends became flabby with disuse and I realised I need to be a bit more intentional if I am to rebuild them.

Habits to help you reconnect with friends both old and new:

• Look at others and greet them with a smile. 
• Set aside ten minutes each day to reach out to someone – a text, a phone call,
• Reach out to a friend or group of friends you haven’t seen in ages and make plans to meet and do ‘something’ together
• Join a small bible study group if you haven’t been part of one over the last couple of years
• If you are in a small bible study group – take some time to share in an activity such as a meal together, a Saturday bush walk, or volunteering to serve together at church
• Join a group with others focused on a common interest, hobby, or skill.  Some examples:
  • Running – parkrun Australia
  • Gardening – community gardens Australia
  • Reading – Book club groups in Sydney
  • Patchwork and quilting – Quilting groups near me – Sydney

Habits to help you build helpful supportive friendships:

• Make time – build regular times you can meet to catch up over a coffee, a walk, joining in an activity you enjoy and put these in your diary
• Be supportive – think about what you would like from a friendship and try to offer that to others. People long for support and encouragement from their friends.  One of the best ways you can do this is listen to them, ask gentle questions to find out more and to offer to pray
• Pray – pray for your friends
• Have a list of ‘open ended’ questions that need more than a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response and be curious and interested in them, how they are feeling about their life, and the issues they are facing
• Have fun – laughter is always good for the soul.