WFH and Still Single? Here’s How You Can Meet New People

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Meeting new people is hard enough under normal circumstances, but meeting new people when you’re working from home brings your chances of meeting someone new close to zero. There’s just not a lot of commonality and familiarity to be found with other people when you’re not even interacting with them on a daily basis, which makes building and maintaining connections all the more challenging.

So how do you meet new people when you’re working remotely? The long and short answer is to just put yourself out there, so we’ve put together a list of the “theres” you should be putting yourself out in.

Meet People by Joining a Sporty Activity

If you’re an active person yourself or are interested in the kind of people who are likeliest to be physically fit, you might want to try meeting people while doing an outdoor activity.

Start Going to the Gym

A lot of people online will tell you that they don’t like being bothered at the gym, but people on the internet are not all the people in the world. Believe it or not, people are typically receptive to people who take time out of their day to be nice to them. While just walking up to someone at the gym and introducing yourself can be awkward, there are a lot of opportunities to strike up a conversation with someone. Maybe they’re new to the gym too and are struggling to figure out the equipment. Maybe they’re trying to locate that one dumbbell pair that’s always missing from the weight rack. Go help.

You can keep developing this connection the more times you see each other at the gym. Say hi next week and slowly move into doing small talk. Before you know it, you may just have a regular gym buddy and a potential date.

Join a Hiking Group

There’s nothing else to do when you’re hiking but walk and talk. Seriously. You can get another person’s entire life story in the span of a 6 to 8 hour hike. Hiking groups also tend to have a communal vibe about them. While you won’t be likely to have someone share all their gear with you, there’s always the chance of being offered a snack or offering someone a snack that you can then use as an opening to start a conversation.

Another great thing about using hiking to meet new people is that you get to see how people act when they’re extremely tired and frustrated. A lot of the people you meet when working from home, especially online, are in circumstances where they’re relatively put together and not under stress. It’s easy to play polite and nice in an airconditioned room, but it’s a little harder when you’re lugging around a 50-liter pack for hours on foot.

Go to Your Local Park and Play With People

If you know a sport, it’s time to head down to your local park and find people to play with. Sure, a lot of folks who go out in public to play a sport are going there with people they already know with, but if you’re looking for a relationship, the more connections the better. If you don’t end up going out with them, you can meet their other friends and maybe ask those people out. At the end of the day, you’re still meeting people who could lead you to a relationship or be “The One” later down the line.

Meeting People Through an Artsy Hobby

For people who are attracted to artsy, sensitive types, the best place to look for your next soul connection may just be an art class or group of some kind.

Sign Up for a Pottery Class

Pottery classes are a fun way to kill two birds with one stone. You get a new hobby, make new connections, and have something cool to bring home after the end of class. Well, assuming your pottery class projects go well. That said, a pottery class is a structured activity where you’re thrown into the same mini community with other like-minded people who may be open to staying in touch to talk about techniques and new projects. You can work your way up from there.

Learn to Paint

A big part of sparking a connection is just finding common ground and that’s not easy if you don’t have a lot of cool interests. Painting, or any visual art, is the most accessible for people to connect with you through. You can meet someone while working from home and painting in your free time through online communities where artists talk about their work and process. Heck, maybe a fan will be your new connection.

Join a Dungeons and Dragons Group

A common thread among Dungeons and Dragons players is that they tend to be quite a creative bunch. You won’t run out of new ideas, both about the game and outside it, to discuss with most D&D players. Since it’s a collaborative story-telling game with a dash of improv acting, it’s not uncommon for some in-game dynamics to mix with real life. A lot of people have met their S.Os at a game table.

Meet New People by Being Active on Dating Apps and Social Groups

Any platform where you can talk to people is a dating app. Classics like OKCupid, Plenty of Fish, and Bumble may not be the best places to meet someone for a long-term relationship, but there are people who find success on dating apps. Try signing up for them and go out with anyone you find interesting. Chances are, you might find there’s more to dating apps than the horror stories that are posted online about them.

If a dating app isn’t your style, try an online community like one of the many social servers on Discord. Yes, there are a lot of strange and even dangerous people in online communities, but learning how to socialize with them often boils down to just using common sense. Pick a well-moderated small server with an already existing tight-knit community. If the community is active and shares bits of their personal information (i.e where they live, what they do for a living, etc.), it’s more likely to be a balanced and healthy community where you can meet regular people.

An advantage of this approach is that you don’t have to physically put yourself out there to socially put yourself out there, so if you’re introverted, the internet might be your best wingperson.