Making New Friends: Reach Out When They Are Down
Making friends is tough - and it doesn’t get easier when there’s more tools to make connections with people.
What does a “friend connection” mean with tools like Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social media platforms? Does everyone share the same definition?
This is where making friends now is even tougher than before. We can make connections quicker than ever, how real is that connection?
For me, I found that I have lots of weak connections on social media platforms. Sometimes it’s from just meeting them at an event. Other times, it might be more formal, through introductions, etc.
How can you take those connections and make them stronger?
One way I have found, especially on LinkedIn - is to reach out to the
person when they are down. Whenever they put up the #opentowork
post.
When I see that post from a connection, I take interest - how can I help them achieve their goal of getting a job?.
I also take this opportunity to reach out and connection - setup a call with them.
Why?
Because this person is being their most vulnerable to the world and I want to help them however I can.
By connecting with them, it shows I care and in a way I want that myself: someone to reach out when I’m down.
“You won’t always be poor”
One profound experience where I had someone reach down to pull me up was one of my best friend’s husband. We had dinner and I barely had enough to cover my portion. Instead he said:
This is on me, you get dinner the next time you’re in town because I know, you won’t always be poor.
This meant a lot and taught me so much. Most importantly, what they said gave me hope, that they knew my situation and also knew it would improve. They saw through the shields I had up and communicated with my most vulnerable self.
When I see people need help when they are down and I’m in a place that can help, like: make an introduction, have a call, etc. - I do.
Even if that return on effort may never come back to me, I made someone’s life a little better that will eventually improve the world.