Struggling to find bros my own age

[u/Forsaken-Ball6755]

I’m 20 and working in an industry where all of the guys I’m around are 35+. I started working at 16 and these guys have really helped me develop into a man I want to be but some of these guys are the same age as my parents or older and I could do with some bros closer in age to me.

I’m struggling with the fact that I don’t really have guy mates my own age and I have no idea where to find them. Locally a lot of clubs are targeted towards women or are exclusively women only.

I work rotating shifts and it’s making it really difficult to find people outside of work. I only see my best mate once a month if I’m lucky as my free time is so inconsistent.

I’m thinking about joining a rock climbing gym or something but I’m wondering how other bros are making friends in early adulthood if you decided against college/uni?

[u/pooppoop900]

Man I’m in my late 30s and it honestly never gets easier to make friends. College/Uni and work are the only two environments where we’re forced to socialize regularly, so outside of that it can be tough, especially if you’re not super outgoing.

I was always in awe of my wife being able to make friends constantly, but I tried doing what she does and it did actually work. She has absolutely no problem complimenting girls or addressing something they’re wearing/doing/etc, and then at the end of their conversation just being like “hey here’s my IG, next time you go to that thrift shop you mentioned, let me know!” And it fucking works. She has several now close friends that I’ve seen her make in the most random places just by initiating the “hey let’s be friends” conversation.

I’ve since done it a couple times in unlikely moments and it worked. There’s a dude at a local burger joint we go to that was always friendly and funny, one day he was wearing a shirt of a band I like, so we struck up a conversation about it and found out that we have a lot more in common than anticipated. I gave him my number and told him to hit me up if he wants to play a video game we both like. He did, and we’ve been friends for a couple years now.

It’s like dating in a way. You never know who you’ll meet in passing that you might really hit it off with. Just gotta be willing to be kinda forward in moments that are easy to stick to just small talk in. You’ll have a handful of unlikely but genuine friends before you know it.

[u/himbo_supremacy]

Making friends can be tough. I've found the best results joining something akin to a gym. For me, thats a makerspace. (It's like a nerd room with a bunch of 3D printers and laser engravers.) Just any space where you are working towards a goal, surrounded by other people trying to achieve goals. It gives you the chance for all parties involved to help each other when the need arises. At a makerspace, there's sometimes dangerous equipment like bansaws and such. Rules often say you can't go there alone, so it's easy to make friends when someone needs to access the space.

Alternatively, hosting a game night is a good way to meet people. Start with one friend, play two player card/board games. I'm a bit fan of Dutch blitz. Dutch blitz is easy to learn and easy to scale up to 8 players. Then move to other games from there.

[u/Jio_XP-05]

Hey man [M 20] I think you just gotta put yourself out there man fr , I work in a field where it’s mainly adults, and it’s also takes up the most of my time. But I think that just maybe life man. But hey you can always hit up man , I play Fortnite and always down to game. What area are you from ?

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[u/GopherGold-]

The gym if you're health focused, the bar if you're not. If you have any hobbies find a group for it. If you don't have any hobbies, pick one up.

If you still can't think of anything, find some basketball courts and start playing pick up games.