Friends and Happiness

Today I read this post on the Happiness Project about a study relating friends and happiness.  It found that the number of close friends someone has is related to how happy they are.  Those with five or more close friends were 60% more likely to describe themselves as "very happy".

I have trouble making close friends.  Its actually a source of unhappiness and something that I try to work on continuously.  I think its hard to meet people that I relate to.  I'm unique and different and just plain eccentric.  But even when I'm at my most social and friendly I run into resistance.  Many people just aren't open to making new friends.

The study discovered the number of close friends per person is on average declining.  So maybe I'm not the only one having trouble making friends. :-)