To start with, you don't have to be open to people about your past until you feel they are close enough friends who really care about you after you have known them for enough time to feel comfortable or if something comes up in conversation, but it's just not wise to open up & share without really knowing the people you are sharing with. Most people don't need to know the hard stuff you have gone through. I truly believe in the "need to know" basis for everything in my past.

The thing with closing out people because you don't trust them & have been let down, doesn't allow the people in that you could possibly trust & who won't let you down either. Getting better at being able to discern who you can & can't trust is a good starting place for yourself to work on.

I would get involved in something that interests you that other people are involved in also (for me, it was the library reading group, then the horse riding group & Bible studies). I would meet a few people & talk & get to know them a bit at the surface level. At that point, it's possible to feel some connection with someone & then from there let the acquaintance grow a bit & see where it goes.

For us, I am involved in several different group that do riding together & many of us are in all of them & we ended up with one small group that really gets along very well & we have so much fun together & do all kinds of activities some horse related & some just social.

I am also very cautious now about who I get involved with as I have been burned many times & my trust issues are very high, but I also have found that if I withheld my trust altogether, I would have lost out on so many wonderful things in my life.

One just has to work on the discernment aspect of people & not get too close too fast. Let caution be a guide & slowly get to know others & observe & listen....rather than be the one doing all the talking....just some things I have realized through the years.