Thread Drift

[lph]

Hiya red! Hiya Indy - if I lived anywhere near you I'd hang out with you any day :-)

[indysteel]

Hiya red! Hiya Indy - if I lived anywhere near you I'd hang out with you any day :-)

Thank, lph. Right back at you!

I had to laugh because I was about as excited to meet a new female friend as I used to get meeting a new guy. But, really, friends are SO important to our well being, at least for most of us. Quality over quantity of course, but the need is definitely there. I've made a new friend relatively recently at work, too, and I was just as excited about her. I spend most of my work days kind of cooped up in a locked office and while I'm not totally alone in that office, it's still really challenging to make friends outside my immediate coworkers. I've been participating on some new projects here at work, too, so I'm just getting out more in general. It's been a good time for me at work.

I am very evenly divided in personality tests between introversion and extroversion, and I consistently have a very strong push/pull when it comes to social engagements. Too many, and I get anxious. Too few, and I get depressed. DH and I do well together because he's not a constant talker, so I can enjoy his company without being "on" all the time, but I had admittedly grown lonely in our town. All of these developments, taken together, are helping me right that imbalance.

[OakLeaf]

Hi Red! Yay for new hobbies.

Yay Indy!

Happy news is good.

[Crankin]

I can relate, Indy. When I moved back to MA, after years in AZ, I had forgotten how "to themselves" New Englanders are. I am very social, and while I do enjoy and need some quiet time, I need to have social plans every weekend. In AZ, my friends were my family and here, people tend to stay among their relatives or with people they have known for years. Now, I am a totally different person in terms of my interests, and the friends I made 20+ years ago really have nothing in common with me anymore. One, I still see a lot, and the other, I can barely tolerate. I became friends with another woman, who was a mutual friend through #1 above and she has become a cyclist. If we hadn't met our closest friends who we ride, ski, and vacation with, I don't know where we would be. And the funny thing is, is that we had seen them for a few years at the health club, and riding around the area. Then we signed up for a ride she was leading and I took the initiative to ask her to go on a ride with me, after that. I spent years doing volunteer work at my synagogue, and not one friendship developed from that. I felt totally used and stopped volunteering. My experience was totally different in AZ, where new people moved in all of the time, and it was normal to ask them over for dinner or coffee.
Hey, today was the first day in 2 weeks I have felt almost normal. Still coughing, though.