When I was a child and young adult, I made most of my own friends at school and work. When I was the parent of my own children, most of my friends tended to be the parents of my kid’s friends. I think that making friends with the people you happen to run into all the time is common.

Use Social Sites To Connect With Friends

But as my kids got older, and my work tended to be more freelance, I found that my circle of friends had shrunk – a lot. I needed to make a lot more effort to keep up with old friends, and I found that I was not enjoying the opportunity to make new ones.

The Best Social Sites For Older Women To Connect On

I am, by nature, a very social person. I feel most alive when I am with other people. Yet my lifestyle and priorities did not lend a lot of time for this important part of my life. I found a solution with some good social sites on the web. Maybe my experiences can help you make new friends, find your old buddies, share an activity, or chat about business.

Facebook

Are you the one older woman who has not joined Facebook yet? When the Social Network started out, it was meant to provide a way for college students to connect with each other. It quickly expanded far beyond this niche use, and recent statistics report that millions of users are over 55 years old.

The Over 50 Facebook group, alone, has thousands of Likes. (A like to a page means that you join it).

What can you do? You can find your old friends to start. Believe me, a lot of them are there. I had a lot of fun connecting with my friends from high school, college, and my early working days. You can also find your current friends, and you even have an opportunity to make new ones as you select people to “friend” from your email list or other friend’s pages.

If you make a causal acquaintance, it is a good idea to get their email address to connect on Facebook. That way you can keep the connection warm without having to actually visit them right away.

Linked In

LinkedIn is oriented more towards business use, though you can still use it to socialize. A lot fo people are confused about how to use this service. In my opinion, you should look for some Linked In groups that interest you. Many of these have active discussions. That way, you can find the small pond out of the big ocean.

Meetup

Meetup.com is a bit different than Facebook or Linkedin. You can, of course, use the other two websites to connect with people you actually intend to meet physically. But the whole idea behind meetup is to promote groups of people who plan to meet in person.

You can find different activities for a variety of different interest. There are groups of people who like to go to movies, run marathons, or discuss business ideas. The best part is, you can search for these groups by zip code – so you are sure to find something interesting close by.

Well, we older ladies have probably already had a lot of illusions shattered about handsome knights on white horses. However, our capacity for

Love After Age 50

love is probably a lot more well tested than it was when we were blushing little princesses. In this section, we hope to explore all sorts of relationships that are still very much open to us.

Partners – Of course, we hope to delve into love and marriage, though mostly baby carriages will belong to grand kids. Some of us sustain long term marriages, while others hope to enjoy a second chance after a breakup. Let us explore marriage and dating.

Children – Most of us do have children, though many of them are grown and gone. Some are grown and still here! They give us plenty to talk about and discuss.

Parents – We are not called the sandwich generation for nothing. While we struggle with kids, we hope to keep faith with our elderly parents, who may need out help now.

Other Family – Yup, we all still have plenty of cousins, aunts, and uncles that we call family. These days, we may even have a new crop of relations as nieces, nephews, and grandchildren appear on the scene.

Friends – In middle school, I remember seeing a poster that said: A friend is somebody who knows you – and likes you anyway. Let’s talk about keeping, and expanding, our social circles. This could include your neighbors, the ladies at the book club, and even new Internet friends.

Doing Good – Of course, we have to love others as we love ourselves. We may talk about ways we can improve the world, or just our little corner of it.

Older women who have been single a long time, or always single, seem to have few problems dating. But those of us who had a breakup, divorce,

Midlife Dating After A Break Up

or death, after a long time with a partner, do not find it easy to resume our old dating ways.  Lucky for us, we have gotten plenty of advice from our dating and relationship experts – experienced amateurs and semi-pros alike!  Enjoy some dating tips for older women.

Don’t Hurry And Don’t Worry

This is probably the best advice we have gotten, and try to take. When you were much younger, and dating, you probably did not take each date that seriously. It could just be a pleasant pass time, and a way to experience new things. Every date did not have to be a potential lead in to a serious relationship. That is exactly the attitude you need to have now.

Go out, have some fun, and make new friends. Every match will not be Mr. Right or your next husband. The more you can enjoy the experience, without expecting more, the more fun, and probably successful, your second round of dating will be.

Online Dating

Online dating is huge right now. In the old days we used to go to clubs and parties to meet guys. Now, a lot of matches are found at online dating sites. My friends who actually enjoy the experience of online dating say they take the experience with a grain of salt though. Apparently there are plenty of wolves, rejections, and flirts in the online world.

• You have to treat this experience as a novel way to meet new people.
•  You also have to guard yourself. You cannot assume that every online profile is what it claims to be.

If you approach Internet dating with a sense of caution, and a sense of fun, you can enjoy it. If you take it too seriously, or if you forget to be careful about actually meeting some potential dates in person, you are forgetting a lifetime of wisdom.

Just Make Some Friends

A lot of us got isolated in the course of raising our kids and pleasing a spouse or partner. A lot of women are better off by slowly building social circles instead of rushing into anything.  Relearn the art of arriving alone and leaving with new friends!

• Instead of actively seeking a date, perhaps you should start out by seeking friends.
• Consider taking a class, joining a political group, going to church, etc. to expand your social circles.