3 Keys to Making Friends as a Busy Parent
Seek belonging, not fitting in
“Fitting in is about assessing a situation and becoming who you need to be to be accepted. Belonging, on the other hand, doesn’t require us to change who we are; it requires us to be who we are.” — Brené Brown
According to research, on average it takes about 50 hours with someone before you consider them a casual friend, 90 hours before you become good friends, and about 200 hours to become close friends.
That’s an awful lot of time!
For busy parents who are juggling work, kids, family, housework, and whatever little self-care they manage to do, there’s often little or no time left to make new friends or keep in touch with old ones.
It’s little wonder we often feel like we don’t have enough friends or we’re dissatisfied with the depth of our existing friendships.
Divided and Disconnected
More broadly, we live in a world that is increasingly divided and disconnected. Our sense of disconnection often makes us feel like we are going through our struggles alone.
