does anyone have a hard time making friends?

I still have my friends from high school, we rarely see each other but when we do it's like no time has passed. But as for newer friendships, I don't really have any. I'm shy, I also can't drink any alcohol due to my Crohn's Disease, so I don't do the happy hour with any co-workers either...
I know I don't put myself out there, I should, but I don't.

I have several really close friends. I have also had others want to hang out with me. I'm 30 and married. I like "me" time. After work and the gym, sometimes I just want to curl up and watch TV or read a book. I have friends now that complain that I don't call them enough or come see them enough. It's not that I don't want to. I just wish there were more time in the day, lol :-)

Yes. Part of my not reaching out or attempting to make new friends is that I am protective of my me time. By the time I'm done with work and my workout and shower and dinner, it's 9pm. The last thing I want to do is call someone. I'm beat. On the other days, my kids are here, and since I like to spend time with them, talking on the phone takes away from that. So, I have told people that I'm generally off limits during the week. Weekends are the time to chat, catch up, do something, etc. But, people seem to get mad about that and I don't know why. Most of them think my workout schedule is BS and they don't support it. They tell me that I'm wasting my life away eating right and exercising all the ime and not living. There could be some truth to that. It just depends on how you view it.

You're so not alone. I try, but it never seems to be reciprocated and so I give up. At least when my daughter was younger, I always had her around to do things with. Now that she is off starting her own adult life, I sit home alone.:sad:

Yes...if I didn't go out of my way to plan girls night out or pool parties...I'd never see anyone. That being said, I'm in Phoenix, AZ...anyone wanna hang out?

I thought this was only me, I recently told my fiancee that we need to join some sort of activiy to make some friends.

This has been my whole life and I've just come to accept it.

I had two friends in college but we've since moved away from one another and they weren't the best people anyway. When I started my first "real" job a year ago, I figured I'd make friends with my coworkers. I'm an introvert so I was aware of how hard I would have to try. No one seemed very interested in me and when I join the 'lunch bunch' on Fridays, all they do is talk about TV shows. I guess that's all the 30+ year old crowd does? Go home and watch sitcoms? I'm 23 and I feel like I have so many more interesting things to do. They make fun of me when I say "no, I don't really watch TV" or "no, I haven't read the Hunger Games." They start assuming I'm a book nerd (which is totally fine and I do my share of reading) but they put such a negative spin on it and act like I'm a homebody. I'm also terrible at small talk. I figure no one is interested in what I did this weekend, and I can't toot my own horn to go on and on about other things, so I just say a few words and move on. I don't understand people who talktalktalk about nothing.

When I'm with the people I know, like my family, boyfriend and former friends, I'm VERY outgoing. I'm extremely funny (look, I just tooted my own horn!) and I'm very fun. I'm planning on marrying an extrovert and I obviously have to have some social aspect of myself to have caught his eye!

When I've tried Meet Up, people flaked out and acted really ****** to the new girl. I've also had very needy friends. I was starving without lunch at work one day and just accepted it. My friend was starving at work another day and absolutely insisted (read: *****ed me out) that I go get her lunch. I don't understand. Maybe I'm too independent and self-sufficient.

I just don't know what else to try anymore. People make fun of quiet folks and imediately think they're not interesting or worth their time. I'm willing to share anything with those close to me, but I don't understand how to just ramble on and on about my life and expect others to listen. So I don't!

Try meetup.com to look for active people doing similar shtt as you in your area.

I suddenly became more popular after dropping 50 or so lbs.. I don't mind SLUT Life Wooooooo!!! (just kidding..sort of)

I reconnected with my old friend after my divorce and THANK GOD he was still single because now I have a partner in crime for bad *kitten* crazy shenanigans every weekend!!

i do.

i am nice and fun. a lot of people i know sit around inside and play video games all day, or are content with never making plans.

i find i never get phone calls anymore, i have to call them.

does anyone else have this problem? some days they just don't seem worth the effort. i swear.

Thank you for posting this! I literally thought I was in the minority in feeling this way - alone if you will. I too feel really outgoing, willing to explore new stuff but alone a lot of the time. I've learned to enjoy my alone time & understand it's part of the age group I'm in (mid 30s) perhaps. People have a lot going on & social agendas are low priority.

YES! I haven't had actual friends in longer than I could say. No phone calls. No visits for coffee. No girls nights out. It's rather depressing, really.

I'm really grateful for this thread!

I find it so hard to make friends, and now I've moved to the middle of no where, all I have are my existing friends (all three of them!). It's weird, because on my blogger and twitter I get lots of followers and connect with people easily, but in real life I don't at all. I'm really shy, and do literally run away if I'm forced into a social situation (yes, literally - was outside with my boyfriend earlier and I heard the voice of our neighbour in the distance so I ran back inside before I was spotted!).