During her How to be an Adult segment on RTÉ 2FM, Louise McSharry asked author and writer, Edel Coffey, to guide listeners through the process of making a new friend.
Noting that the theme of friendship was a popular request for the weekly segment, Louise asked Edel why people were so fascinated by this particular type of relationship.
"We talk about romances all the time: we talk about meeting someone, how to end a relationships, how to find a relationship, how to get to the next level in a relationship. We rarely ever talk about friendships, and they're such a huge part of our emotional wellbeing and sometimes they have a negative impact."
With female friendships almost "fetishised" in pop culture, Louise suggests that many people may feel lonely if they don't have a Taylor Swift worthy girl squad or a singular best friend who resembles a sister.
For those who have yet to make those deep connections or are trying to make new friends as an adult, Edel says that it will be a similar process to dating. And much like dating, making friends will be a tricky and time consuming process.
Having moved from Dublin to Galway a few years ago herself, the author admits that she had to make a big effort to make new connections, with plenty of misses along the way.
"If you meet somebody and you're kind of all over them, they think 'hmmm, maybe not'," laughs Edel.
"I started actively joining things that I never would have dreamed of joining before. I went to a night class and I joined loads of book clubs - I joined like four book clubs and never read the books, obviously."
As well as making an effort to chat to people, both Edel and Louise agree that making friends is all about pushing yourself to be a little vulnerable and a little forthright.
While Edel admits to going solo to many a book launch before finally landing on a new crowd of friends, Louise tells the story of how she made the bold move of giving colleagues her number and suggesting they go for a drink. In both cases, their efforts paid off.
However, they both agreed that patience is key with forming friendships and to be careful not to over do it with new people.
Although, in saying that, sometimes grand gestures do pay off as Edel discovered when she wrote a new companion a poem for her birthday...
"Thankfully, she didn't freak out and report me to the police," she laughed. "She actually became my friend and we're still very good friends."
To find out more about making friends - and ending them - listen back to Lousie McSharry on RTÉ 2FM here.
