You probably have already heard the usual advice about dating and meeting new people when you are a retired senior.  It goes something like this:

• Get involved in your community 
• Volunteer for a charity or community group
• Attend church 
• Join a book club 
• Take classes  (preferably ones with multiple sessions rather than one time)
• Participate in politics

MeetUps bring new people into your life.

There is, however, an online world that is terrific for meeting new people: MeetUps.  The goal of MeetUps is to help people find other people in their local area wh0 share common interests.  

Say, for  example, you have been fascinated by drum circles--there are MeetUps for that.  Or if board games are your thing--there are MeetUps for that.  Or foreign films, yoga, hiking, poker, Vietnamese food, French language, website programming--there are MeetUps for all those and hundreds more topics, too.

99% of MeetUps are free--except, of course, for event admissions or meal costs.  The person who organizes the MeetUp sets a day and place for whatever the group is doing, then sends out an email to everyone in the MeetUp group. You are usually asked to RSVP, so the organizer has an idea of how many will attend.

Then people simply show up. Absolute strangers soon become friends because of their shared interest.  

As a rule, age has nothing to do with MeetUps.  It is the common interests that bring people together.  So by joining a MeetUp group you will meet people of all ages.  And the more people you know, the more friends you have of any age, the better the quality--and even length--of your life will be.  (There are some MeetUps, however, that target specific age groups.)

Now if you go to the MeetUp website to search for an existing MeetUp that interests you--and come up empty--you can start a group of your own.  For example, you could set up a group for people over age 55 to have lunch and visit a museum once a month.  Or establish a MeetUp group for people over age 55 to go on mid-morning hikes.  Details of how to do it are on the site. 

Or you can just check back a few weeks later because new MeetUps are being added literally all the time.  If you sign up for one group--any group--you will receive a weekly email about all MeetUps in your area.  You may discover a topic or activity that is new and very interesting to you.  And new people who share at least one interest with you. 

NOTE:  All names on this site have been changed to protect individual privacy.  
The stories are real, the names are not. 

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