Our Therapists Share 6 Social Skills for a Healthier You

Humans are social beings. We seek connection, unity and inclusiveness. As we grow older it becomes more difficult to connect with others. We become more selective, stricter with social guidelines of whom we could befriend. Socializing can feel like hard work for many of us. What if there was a way that could help us socialize more openly, with confidence and positivity?

Here are 6 ways to help you regain connections and better socialize with others:

1. Be open minded:

   Realize that having an open mind is a key to making new lasting relationships. Going into a new place, event or social setting as if you are ready to make friends and listen to others. This mindset will help you attract the people you want to create new relationships with.

2. Love yourself:

   By loving and knowing who you are you can be more confident. Go into an event knowing what you bring to your relationships and portray this. This confidence can help others be more attracted to your energy, which will also make you appear to be more socially available.

3. Practice what you want to say:

   By rehearsing and reciting how to introduce yourself, you can make yourself less nervous about the event. Having a couple of funny lines or stories is a great way to meet people. We tend to gravitate to stories about dogs, pets, babies and common interests. Come up with a way to gain potential connections by having a couple of lines that you want to say.

4. Find people with common interests

   People like you, want to be friends with you. The key here is you have find them. Having similar interests makes us automatically more likely to connect and be more able to socialize with each other. When we have similarities a group or bond can naturally grow.

5. Know your non-negotiables:

   We all have those pet peeves or values that are deal breakers in any relationship. Go into a socially setting knowing what your non-negotiable are. For some people it is telling the truth, for others it is a specific sense of humor, or possibly even an affinity for dogs. Know what your deal breakers are in a relationship and if you hear them when you are getting to know someone, realize this may be ultimately what breaks the relationship.

6. Go out and practice:

   Try, try and try again. The more you expose yourself to social settings and new people, the more practice you will have in socializing. This will make you better equipped to meet others and help you lower any social anxiety. Take baby steps and slowly but surely put yourself out there. You can do this!

Socializing in this post pandemic era is a struggle. Humana want to feel as a part of a community and culturally some of us seek this more often as well. People have become very used to isolation and are not even aware of how our social skills may have regressed. It is important to be empathetic with yourself, and help yourself get back out there again. Trying to connect, gaining more confidence in your social abilities and finding a great group of friends are all things you can accomplish.

Have you heard about our Serene Mind Social Skills Groups? Coming this fall we will have a social skills group for kids, teens and young adults. Each group will be geared to a different age group. We hope you come socialize with us!