Healthy relationships and social interactions can dramatically impact your health, longevity, and overall well-being; study upon study suggests that having friends improves mood, heart rate, and blood pressure, and reduces the likelihood of dying from stroke, depression, heart problems, and chronic diseases. A study on friendship by the Pew Research Center found that a whopping 61 percent of adults surveyed said that having close friends was the key to a fulfilling life—far more than marriage, children, or money.

Many people feel that the older they get, the harder it is to make good friends. Part of the challenge is that we aren’t necessarily participating in as many activities as we did when we were younger, so we’re not meeting and engaging with as many people on a regular basis. You can do the math; you can’t make friends if you never meet them. Interestingly, the positive health and well-being outcomes from interacting with acquaintances, even strangers, are still than having limited to no exposure to others. So try chatting up someone you don’t know while waiting for the train or standing in line at the grocery store. Or just smile at the barista you see every morning; you’re also making someone else’s day a little brighter. Who knows? The next person you meet might be your next good friend. 

If you’re finding it hard to make friends, consider some of these suggestions. 

2. Increase the number of opportunities to meet and engage with others. Join a club or a choir, travel, take a class… and don’t limit yourself to just one activity at a time. Take a class and join a choir.

3. Be consistent—once you put yourself out there by finding opportunities to be around people, stick with it. You won’t be able to start a friendship with that lovely person you met at choir practice if you don’t go back next week.

4. Sometimes a good friend with whom we lost touch is the best place to start. Many of us hesitate to try and revive good friendships that faded away, fearing outright rejection or just the awkwardness of that first phone call. Yes: time intervened, your lives changed, and you lost touch. But whatever it was about each other that made you friends back then is still there. Trust that.