<p>Since you’re a photographer, I’m sure you could volunteer to photograph events of orgs you believe in and make some friends along the way. You have to give of yourself a bit to make friends. </p>
<p>I recently started to volunteer to do mock interviews in our city for displaced adults and young adults looking for their first jobs. I don’t really make new friends, but it makes me feel good.</p>
<p>I’m not super religious, but honestly, there is nothing that will give you a community more quickly than joining a church/synagogue/temple, whichever. You could teach a photography class at the local art center or high school extension or community college. You could flat out invite a few of your running friends for coffee, or your scientist friends. As a man, if you do volunteer work, you will be very beloved very quickly, as my H has found out. </p>
<p>Good luck. </p>
<p>My husband and I, both retired, have met tons of people playing at bridge clubs. He is generally not outgoing socially but even he has made a few good friends this way. It’s really a delight to see newcomer players become part of new social groups because of the game.</p>
<p>Mahjong. My mom plays 2-3 times a week. They take turns going to each other’s house. They go out to dinner after the game. </p>
<p>Some folks become friends via investment clubs, where they meet regularly and then decide whether to buy, sell or hold. They all contribute some amount each month to the investment kitty, which is jointly held. </p>
<p>My mom made friends exercising in a free class at the local shopping mall. </p>
<p>I don’t go to church and that is that. I have talked to several people about volunteering in retirement and don’t really like the idea. </p>
<p>Once you retire, you should be worry free and do not need a schedule. Many none profits, I heard, want to get a fix schedule from you. Then you will need to schedule other thing around that schedule. If I want to have something I Have to do, I would rather get paid doing that. Otherwise, I would really like to come and go as I wish. </p>
<p>You are making assumptions and discounting the opportunity to give back/volunteer because of some second hand info that validates what you want to hear? I do volunteer work. On my schedule. I tell them when I am available. But yes, I also attend some pre-scheduled meetings if/when I can. And its very rewarding. Try it. You might just like it. But yes, if your personality style is one in which you are very self focused and rigid, it might not be for you.</p>
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<p>Many non-profits put a limit on how much you can volunteer per week, with as few as four hours max… A WEEK! You only need to do that once a week, then you can schedule everything else around that. And if something important comes up that you have to do during that four-hour (or whatever number of hours) shift, then you call an let them know you can’t be there. That’s the nice thing about volunteering - as long as you’re a responsible person, they won’t fire you. There’s a joke that probably goes around lots of volunteer positions - when someone informs another person they won’t be in the following week for their shift, the person in charge jokes and says, “Well, we’ll have to dock your pay.”</p>
<p>What happens if you make friends and have something regularly scheduled with them? Won’t you have to schedule your other things around the friend? It’s not a difficult concept.</p>
<p>I am, however, going to try to make more friends via meet ups of photographers. </p>
<p>Many may not know, there is actually a growing industries of so call “modeling”. There are more and more highly educated old men who have incomes to get nice photograph equipment. One of the subjects of their photography - portraits of models. </p>
<p>In any city of some size, you will have 1,000s of models charging any where from $30 to $250 an hour. </p>
<p>What I have been doing is to offer my service for free to those who are just coming to the market to help them build their portfolios. </p>
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Hope they are just headshots. Otherwise it starts to take on the old-man-creepy factor.</p>
<p>And once a few “free” clients spread the word, will the service continue to be offered for free or will there soon be a fee attached, or a fee for additional services?</p>
<p>How about the local chapter of your college/ university alumni club? I get zillions of solicitations for events ranging from sporting events to cultural events to wine tastings, etc. I get the feeling that a core group of attendees are regulars. They do require RSVPs in advance, however. ;-)</p>
<p>If you are serious about wanting to find new friends you need to be willing to invest yourself (and your time) to get to know people and see who you might click with. Have you ever considered how many people volunteer to make it possible for you to run a marathon? Event organizers are always looking for people to help with registration, man water stations, etc. There is no regular commitment; you need only volunteer when you’re available. Also, most local running groups have a social component. On the whole, I find runners to be a friendly, happy group of people but they are not going to knock on your door asking if you want to be their friend. ;)</p>
<p>I agree that runners are a friendly, happy group of people :). We do chat a lot during the long runs but everyone goes home after the runs. </p>
<p>So volunteer with the local track club. The value of meeting and helping others is priceless. You have to give something to get something. </p>
<p>I know several people who have met friends though running/walking/hiking groups.</p>
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<p>Why not organize a social activity with your running group–invite some of them to dinner or suggest that you all go out after a run and get something to eat/drink. </p>
<p>We just moved to a completely new town a little over a year ago. I have a ton of new friends. </p>
<p>I volunteer. I joined the running group at the gym and I invited people to go to coffee. I said, “I’m new in town.” You could say, “I just retired.” </p>
<p>H volunteers a lot. He’s doing a ton of good taking his major business experience and contacts and using them to help others. People love to help. It’s not just the volunteers he’s met. He must know almost everyone here at this point. He goes to have breakfast every day at a diner in town at the counter. </p>
<p>I’ve made some friends volunteering in arts areas, though I’m still working and happy to be working.</p>
<p>We joined a church. So much to do.</p>
<p>If you won’t do the things people do, you won’t meet the people. You said you are not good at making friends. If you aren’t good at something, you look at what people who ARE good at it do, and then you do that. This is what people do.</p>
<p>Good luck</p>
<p>“about volunteering. I don’t see me doing that. I don’t know. I just don’t have good experiences with people from different segments of the society.” - I assume it means you are not comfortable interacting with low income folks. (It’s unfortunate, but I understand wanting to stay in your comfort zone). The beauty of volunteering is that you can pick where to serve. Lot of opportunities at schools, churches, libraries, museums, music organizations, etc. Good luck! </p>
<p>RE meet up groups. If you can’t find one during the times you want you could start your own “recently retireds” and meet for lunch every Thursday etc. </p>
<p>coloradomom,
but since he called himself “dirt poor” , one would think he’d fit right in… #-o </p>