Stepping out of your Comfort Zone: Making New Friends
Making new friends can be very uncomfortable and intimidating for some people- exposing yourself to the unknown and interacting with people you have just come across. We are often so used to our friends and for most of us, we seek to remain in our comfort zone.
However, is that healthy?
There's definitely nothing wrong with staying in our comfort zone, with people whom we have known for some time. However, it may not be entirely healthy to just stick within your comfort zone- you miss out on quite a number of opportunities in improving your social networking, having fresh perspectives from new people and even the chance of knowing someone you could have clicked with! 
Besides, there are a lot of changes that could happen in our everyday life that keeps us or our friends busy and life changes could force you out of your comfort zone at some point in time It never hurts to expose yourself to new friendships, but what is keeping people back from new ones? There could be many factors involved, but one common one- fear.
What fears are you talking about?
Fears are especially prominent for those with social anxiety- fear of social situations. There are many fears when making new friends, be it forming friendships with individuals, or to join in a group. One common example would include the fear of judgement- how would their new peers think of them based on how they act? Another example would be the fear of rejection- will their peers be accepting of them and become friends with them? Are they just friendly or really want to be friends? There are a lot of self-doubt involved and questions about the 'new friendships' aren't uncommon. There are definitely a lot more fears involved in different scenarios, but you get the idea. 
What causes these fears?
Good question, and social anxiety is definitely one of the main reasons for these fears. There is a wide variety of factors which can come into play as well- our negative past experiences towards friendships,our attachment styles (Especially avoidant and anxious ones- read more about attachment styles here) and even our lack of experiences in forming new friendships.
So with that, we have some questions for you to talk about and share! 
1. What are you fearful of when you try to make friends with someone?
2. What do you think are the reasons behind these fears?
3. How do you plan to challenge these fears to gain a potential good friend?
I am fearful of someone not liking me or thinking I'm odd when I try to make a new friend. I also fear that we may have nothing in common so we do not really connect as well as we should. To avoid those fears I have been getting involved in different activities to broaden my horizons and so I have many interesting things to talk about. I think the reason behind the fears I have are because in the past I was not involved in many activities or I was afraid of people not liking me instead of realizing that there are many many people in this world who would adore me as a friend. I plan to not let the fear of someone not liking me hold me back from making a new friend.
This is something I struggle with. I love making new friends. But find it hard to do so.
I'm terrible when it comes to making friends if I have to rely on chit-chat. Give me a common activity or purpose, and I'm OK. It can take me a while to warm up in person; however, I find it much easier to open up online. Although I've always had trouble with chit-chat and can be quiet or reserved until I "warm up", I'm more reluctant to reach out than when I was younger. My fear is that I won't be good enough or they won't like who I am. The funny thing is that I can chat up a storm to a stranger standing in line with me or waiting to be seated n a restaurant. I can chit-chat away. Pretty peculiar. However, at work, I sought to isolate myself by sitting at an empty table in meetings or at lunch...even better was to eat lunch at my desk. It's easier if the other person takes the initiative. They lead, I follow. And I don't feel lonely. I'm merely alone. However, the bottom line is that I highly suspect that most people really don't care one way or the other whether I'm around or not. I doubt it affects anything much.
I'm always fearful that people won't want to be my friend because they don't see who I am. I am not a reserved person, but neither am I loud, and I worry that because of that, people may not know the true me. I'm also different than others, which is why I'm afraid some may not accept me. I think the reason behind that fear is that when I was younger I used to be very quiet, and I never had many friends. So, what i've been doing these past few years is actively taking an effort to meet new people and taking interest to know them.
Sphero, I love this post ❤