Lately I feel like all the people I meet only get and stay acquaintances to mine. I don't have a huge friend group and would enjoy forming new friendships, going out more with people, etc.
If often get stuck in situations where I talk to people I met, may it be new people, people I have not seen in years, people in the gym or at work, but can't quite seem to be able to get to know these people better nor to do activities outside of where I met them.
Let's take some recent and fitting examples:
At work we got like a small group (about 10 people) of young (mostly the same age group, around 2-3 years different at most) employees. We all met through multiple trainings we received at the company I work at. We also got a Whatsapp group to meet up for lunch or occasional coffee breaks. We all share similar interests and pretty much the same humor. However I can't really get them to do stuff outside of work, e.g. taking drinks, going out or something. It's hard to plan because everyone got their own life and "private" friends. One time we already picked a date for going out and some of the people said they'd come but, at the end, nobody had time
At the gym there are some guys that seem to be really cool. I talked to them a few times about the lifts I/we were doing. Maybe a compliment about pretty good exercise execution here and there. One of them asked me about my warmup routine, since I'm pretty much the only one warming up properly in the gym. Here it's not that I can't meet these people, it's rather how to get to know them better and meet them outside the gym.
I was out with some people from the university where I gratuated a few months ago. The event was held by the university itself, but only like 15-20 people came. I only knew a friend of mine I went there with. I had some really nice conversations and would have loved to stay in contact with some of the people. However I found myself going home with nothing, as always, because I feared asking.
Question
How can I try and ask to meet people outside of the actual setting where I initially met them, without making it seem awkward or forced? I'm always standing their not knowing what or how to say it in order to maybe get their phone number, so we can meet up some day or how/when to ask if they want to hang out.