Her New Year’s Resolution Is To Have Dinner With A Stranger Every Thursday
Have you ever been in a position where you’ve struggled to make friends? These days, there are a lot of new resources for making friends through apps or social media groups, but sometimes there is nothing like meeting a new friend face-to-face.
One woman has been documenting her experience as she tries to fulfill her 2023 New Year’s Resolution, which is to have dinner with a stranger every Thursday so she can make some friends.
Jessie Wright (@jssirite) lives in Melbourne, Australia, and has gone viral for her videos that document her new Thursday night activity.
Right before the COVID-19 pandemic caused the world to go into lockdown, Jessie moved to Melbourne with her boyfriend. However, she and her boyfriend eventually broke up, leaving her very lonely.
“It’s so hard to make friends as an adult,” Jessie says in one of her videos.
Tired of feeling alone in a big city, Jessie decided to post on her public Instagram and TikTok accounts, asking if anyone in her area would like to go out to dinner with her as a way of making new friends.
She decided that she’d pick a new stranger to go out to dinner with every Thursday in hopes that by the end of the year, she could potentially have up to 52 new friends.
Jessie’s first dinner friend was just as nervous as she was, but they had a lovely outing. They chatted about their lives and marketing jobs and split some french fries.
After filming a video about her first dinner, Jessie’s story went viral, and new followers started chiming in, offering to go to dinner with her.
realstock1 – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual people
Now, Jessie is overwhelmed in a good way, as she has officially become booked up with dinner plans!
Whenever she goes out to dinner with someone new, Jessie posts pictures on TikTok of the experience. She captures her outfit, where they decided to have dinner, and posts a picture with all sorts of information about her new friend.
She recently went out to dinner with a beauty writer she had coincidentally been following on social media for a while now. She dined with Gemma Watts and said they talked about beauty, love, and celebrity gossip. She described Gemma as witty, captivating, and warm. How cute is that?
Making plans with people, especially strangers, can go wrong occasionally. On what was supposed to be Jessie’s second Thursday dinner, her new friend thought they were supposed to meet the following Thursday, so she sat at a restaurant alone for a while!
Other than that, it looks like her experiences have been nothing but lovely.
“I felt so alone,” says Jessie, reflecting on what inspired her to go on this journey. “I’ve now got, like, the opposite problem. I don’t know how to fit everyone in!”
Would you give Jessie’s friend-making method a try?
You can view Jessie’s TikTok page here.
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