I guess I just need to get this off my chest. My therapist is out of the country right now and this has been bothering me for a few weeks. So for some background, I've never been someone that's had a lot of friends. I moved around a lot as a kid and as I got older for some reason I could never keep friends. It's amazing to me that people have childhood friends or people they've been friends with for 5+ years. I've never known someone for longer than 3 years really. Whenever I found a new group, things would happen and it always meant I ended up alone. A lot of it was my fault I guess, but there are some things that happened that were out of my control. I feel lonely a lot of the time.

 

I found out recently that my closest friend is moving out of state at the end of the summer. All my other friends are super busy with college usually, and none of them live close by. Basically this fall I won't really have anyone I can really talk to or hangout with. I'm a very social person, so whenever this happens I take it really badly. And to top it all off, I'm still trying to get over a recent very messy relationship. So I'm really not having a good time right now, and things look like they're just going to get worse for at least the next year before I transfer to a 4 year school. The only thing keeping me going is the fact I will be getting an emotional support dog in July. I know he'll be a huge help for my mental illness. At the same time, there's only so much a dog can do. I'm really trying to get to a place where I need people less, and depend on myself more, but I don't think it's bad to want close friendships. I know I won't be ready for a romantic relationship for a very long time, so it'd be nice to have strong platonic relationships instead.

 

I know it's not all bad, my parents are supportive and they help me sometimes. I'm not really close with my siblings but I know they care about me. And I have a really great therapist and DBT program, so I have that going for me. And I'm not just giving up. I'm going to try to meet new people through my classes this fall. I'm trying to find a new job and  I'm going to try volunteering more. It's just I tend to be shy, and in the past I haven't been successful in meeting new people. I've made exactly 0 friends through college, and I'm going into my 4th year. I'm still going to try at least. For right now though, there's not much I can do.

 

I guess I'm just asking if it gets any easier. I'm trying really hard to stay positive and not get too hopeless. I know things won't always be like this, but this situation is pretty much all I've known for the 20 years I've been alive, so it gets disheartening after a while. I would love it if y'all could share success stories or helpful ways to deal with this. I know I'm young and there's so many people I haven't met, it's just really hard right now.

 

**tl;dr:** I'm going to have very few friends for at least the next year, and am looking for success stories or ways to help deal with this.