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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,

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Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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Speaker 1: tip is that if you are looking to find more

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Speaker 1: friendship and connection, plug into an existing group. You'll have

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Speaker 1: more ready made opportunities for socializing than if you try

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Speaker 1: to recreate everything on your own. So you may have

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Speaker 1: known some people who've moved a lot in their lives,

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Speaker 1: either because they are a family member or in the military,

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Speaker 1: or they get transferred a lot, or they just like

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Speaker 1: to start over. You may have also noticed that these

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Speaker 1: people tend to make friends fairly quickly. I'm sure some

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Speaker 1: of this is just survival, but it's also probably a

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Speaker 1: recognition that the quickest way to a good social life

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Speaker 1: is to plug into existing groups. People find one that

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Speaker 1: seems like a reasonable fit, and then they invest in

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Speaker 1: it consistently. No need to start things or piece together

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Speaker 1: groups through individual relationships. You can do that as well,

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Speaker 1: but that takes time. Existing groups do all of this fast.

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Speaker 1: These groups are probably all around you if you look.

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Speaker 1: If you are a person of faith, a good option

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Speaker 1: is to find a house of worship that seems reasonably

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Speaker 1: aligned with your beliefs or at least has lots of

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Speaker 1: people in your same stage of life, and then you

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Speaker 1: keep showing up better yet join the choir or the

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Speaker 1: fellowship committee or a small group, or volunteer to help

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Speaker 1: lead an outreach project. As you get together regularly with

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Speaker 1: people with whom you have something in common, you will

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Speaker 1: pretty naturally start making friends. Or perhaps you like volunteering

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Speaker 1: in civic engagement. There are plenty of organizations that are

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Speaker 1: oriented in this direction, like the junior league or the

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Speaker 1: rotary club, or perhaps something that's aligned with your particular politics.

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Speaker 1: Your neighborhood or apartment complex or homeowners association might also

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Speaker 1: have events or have committees that need to do things.

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Speaker 1: If so, start attending, Or perhaps there's a local performing

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Speaker 1: arts group or museum that has a booster association. Join

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Speaker 1: and then you can go to events and fundraisers for them, volunteer,

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Speaker 1: get involved, and naturally start spending time with other people

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Speaker 1: who also like the arts. And then, of course, there

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Speaker 1: are sports. If you have kids, they are a natural

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Speaker 1: way to meet people, both through their schools and on

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Speaker 1: the sidelines of their practices and games. But don't discount

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Speaker 1: joining your own team. An adult soccer team is an

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Speaker 1: existing group and when you join you will have people

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Speaker 1: to hang out with pretty regularly. Finding more connection doesn't

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Speaker 1: have to be hard. There is plenty of evidence that

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Speaker 1: making friends has more to do with frequency of interaction

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Speaker 1: than whether we are naturally anyone's soulmate. It's less about

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Speaker 1: finding the perfect friends or group and more about spotting

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Speaker 1: an appealing group and embracing it. When you keep showing up,

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Speaker 1: the existing group becomes your group, and that can make

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Speaker 1: life a lot more fun. In the meantime, this is Laura.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of

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Speaker 1: our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've

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Speaker 1: got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at

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Speaker 1: Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a

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Speaker 1: production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit

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Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to

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Speaker 1: your favorite shows.