A BUMBLE BRUNCH

(Originally posted May 25, 2019)

Friends are great. But as you get older, why do they seem to be harder to come by? Either you drift from your old ones (which is normal!) or life gets hectic and schedules keep you apart (which is also totally normal!). Or, in an unfortunate scenario, maybe you’ve realized that your current “friends” actually don’t make you feel like you’re their friends at all?

Even when you have great friends, they can be like that missing sock from the dryer: you know it’s there somewhere, but you can’t find it. I’ve been there. I’m currently there. I’m sure everyone has. But friends are important, and missing that aspect in your life can leave you feeling isolated and honestly just bad.

So, one day a couple months ago I was idly scrolling through Instagram, looking at everyone and their friends, when I came across an ad for #Bumble #BFF. “Thanks, Instagram algorithm!” I thought to myself. But I actually had no idea that Bumble could be used to make friends. I only knew the app as it pertained to dating- just like Tinder where you swipe right or left to match with potential dates (or hook-ups, depending on what you’re in the market for). But I saw the ad with happy girlfriends and decided I’d check it out. I really had nothing to lose. Worst case was that I match with someone, try talking and it goes nowhere. No love lost there! There was only room to go up!

Downloading the app and setting it up was easy. Name. Age. Location. Brief bio and photos of yourself. You choose the age range you want potential friends to fall in and their distance from you. Then you get to swiping!

Here’s what my profile looks like! I’m no photoshop wizard, so don’t mind my poor collage making skills! Bumble also gives you some pre-made questions to answer as well as linking your Spotify to share music taste!

After accumulating some matches, it truly dawned on me that all these girls were on Bumble BFF because they wanted friends. Some had just moved to the Los Angeles area and didn’t know anyone, and some were natives (like me). But we were all there for a common goal. My thought process was if I got a group together for brunch, they’d all benefit along with me!

I ended up getting eleven girls in one place yesterday at the Cheesecake Factory (doesn’t seem like a very brunch-y place, but believe me, it was delish). It was such a good time! I met some great girls that were just as excited to meet me and the rest of the group! Not only was there a good time had, but the girls even brought up getting together again. Which is a good thing, because I was a little worried they’d leave the restaurant with no intention of meeting up ever again.

To my surprise, later that night I even went over to a new friend’s house to watch the Game of Thrones finale! Woo hoo!

I came out of this experience feeling very empowered. I told myself I wasn’t going to spend any more time feeling sad that I don’t always have friends to call on. I took matters into my own hands and the result was so much fun! It made me feel great that I didn’t have to do any begging to get anyone to want to hang out with me, because everyone else was feeling the way I did! If everybody just took the time to reach out, we’d realize that the other person on the other end was waiting for that extended hand.

So whether this inspires you to download the app too or just message that girl you follow on #Instagram but have never actually met, I’m telling you to do it! I truly believe it’s worth it. You’ll make her day, you’ll make yourself feel good and you might even make a friend! So happy swiping, messaging, texting, emailing, snail-mailing, whatever!