How do you make friends as a young man?

I’m 18 years old and I was wondering if I could get some experiences/advice on how to make friends as you get older.

I’ve never had any issue with making friends but since leaving school and friends moving on in life it’s really hard to find friends. I have friends from work who I get on extremely well with but I live about an hour away from my work so weekend plans are quite difficult with them.

All of my friends from secondary school or just from my area have gone to university or moved to different places around the country and it just seems like meeting new friends is impossible and awkward as most people already have their own groups.

I hadn’t really noticed until I sat down one weekend and just realised I didn’t have a single person to message to see if they wanted to hang out or hop on a game. It feels awkward even asking how to make friends but I would really appreciate any help.