How To Be There For Your Single Friend

Perhaps you’re eager to help your single friend out with her dating and love life because you want her to be happy and fulfilled but just maybe she might not be ready for it yet or something might be holding her back. What should you do to help your single friends?

1. Make introductions in casual atmospheres

Once your friend communicates to you that she is open to meeting other people yet hesitant, do not bombard her with suggestions or blind dates, but instead make a casual introduction for her to determine whether or not she has chemistry with people she meets. How do you accomplish this? Invite your friend to a prearranged event like a fundraiser dinner dance, or happy hour and just introduce her to friends or coworkers. Low pressure and fun environments that provide a relaxing environment helps people be their authentic selves and removes the potential rigidity and pressure of a date. Are you the shy one but in a relationship? Ask your friend to escort you to an event as her wing woman, and you can give her the space to work the room at the event.

2. Suggest dating apps, online dating or activities with consistent interaction

If your friend is struggling to meet people and actively wants to engage with other, there are so many ways to connect with people nowadays through numerous
digital avenues. Suggest your friend to try one app or website, and if she does not like it, tell her not to use it. Let her know there are so many available, and some work for different people. Dating Apps are wonderful tools that can connect her to people that she would not otherwise meet. Maybe she considers herself old fashioned and refuses the convenience of online dating. Encourage her to join a book club, sports club, or any club or activity that meets regularly so she can make connections with others doing some shared activity that can be an avenue for meeting likeminded people or people who share a similar passion. Not only does this expose her to people in the different groups themselves, but she can meet the friends of her new acquaintances through these activities.

3. Encourage and support your friend

Your friend wants to meet someone but has tried so many dating websites, apps, meet-ups, and social events and is actively involved in various groups, clubs and activities. She is discouraged that she will never meet someone. Communicate to her that attitude is half the battle. Encourage her that she needs to have an open mind because sometimes it’s the event that we do not feel like going to, but we still end up going to without expectations, is the one that can lead to something great. Make sure to spend quality time with your friend to show her that her time is valuable and that you are there for her while she is trying to manage her emotions and frustrations about her dating life.

4. Know your friend’s priorities

Sometimes there is nothing really you can do aside from trying to understand what your friend wants. Make sure to listen to what your friend is experiencing. Your friend may want to focus on herself right now because she is so tapped out and has no emotional energy or bandwidth for connecting with guys. Her job is a source of stress because her boss is so demanding that she does not feel like she can take enough time to rejuvenate and care for herself. Maybe she devotes so much time on her job because she cares so much about establishing and growing her career that she truly does have little time for anything else.

Whatever the reason may be, your friend just is not ready to invest the energy in meeting people, and it may take time. Right now, listen to what may be holding her back from reaching out to new people. She has her reasons and sometimes people are single by choice and want to enjoy their current stage in life. In a survey cited by (https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/living-single/201807/what-single- women-really-want.), the top priorities for single women are living on their own and establishing a career. Perhaps a relationship or dating for your single friend just is not on her radar right now and that is ok.

Conclusion

Our society may lump single friends into one homogenous category but they are distinct individuals with different dreams and goals. Remember that your friend who is single may not desire the same type of relationship you did or does not want it so soon. Keep in mind that being single is not a bad thing and that your friend has so much freedom in this current stage of life.