19 November 2011

I Used to Do Stuff

Does anyone else remember when I used to live in one of the biggest cities in the world?

I do.

Remember how I had tons of friends?  So many that I started to complain about their abundance and try to find ways to thin out the herd?

Remember how there were always too many things to do?  I don't mean like a 'To Do' list, either.  I mean all of the social stuff, all of the cultural stuff, all of the ... just stuff.  There was so much stuff to do.  Always.  I got so sick of it that I'd block out sections of my calendar months in advance to dedicate to doing nothing, because there was just plain too much stuff going on.

I remember that.  I remember when I used to do stuff.

Those were the days ...

I didn't really think so then, to be honest.  Sometimes I did, but I'm not really cut out for big group interactions, and I get overstimulated pretty easily.  I got sick of all the stuff.  I remember that.

The thing is, it's been over nine months since I moved away from that big city, and into my parents' spare room.  Nine months of no cool friends.  Nine months of no social stuff.  Nine months of no cultural stuff.  Nine months of no stuff at all, really.  And now I miss it.  I miss it so much.  I'm going crazy with the missing of it.

But what to do?  If I were still in that huge city, I'd find some thing to do (It would be easy; there was always stuff to do.) and call a few of the herd of friends until someone either expressed interest in joining me, or invited me to do some different thing.

Here ... who do I call?  And if I called them - what would we do, anyway?

So, I'm trying a different approach.  I found a thing to do.  (It was pretty hard.  I had to get help from my 23-year-old brother's buddy, but we found something.)  It's a small venue concert - two bands I've never heard of before and may or may not enjoy.  I bought a ticket online, and I'm going to go to this concert.  I'm going alone.  My goal is to talk to at least one stranger.  It's a big goal for me, but maybe that stranger could be a friend.  I understand from the movies that people go out into the world and turn strangers into friends all the time.

Tonight I'm doing a thing.  If I like it, maybe it will lead to me doing more stuff in the future.  If I hate it, hopefully it will help me remember that I don't really like doing stuff all that much, and I will stop missing all that stuff that I used to do.

We'll see.  Hopefully, one way or the other, it works.  Hopefully, sitting alone at a concert in Oklahoma City turns out to be better than sitting alone in my parents' house.

Hopefully.

If not, at least in the future I'll be able to say, "Hey, remember when I did that one thing?"

That's something, even if only a very small something.

5 comments:

Travelch1ck said...

I feel you!

myfotolife said...

I found you on fb and a friend of mine is a friend of yours and I am guessing that I live in that very big city...and right now i'm getting ready to go home in a week for Christmas...here's the thing i have too many plans in this one little weekend...If my sat morning is free for me to enjoy I will love it! I don't think it will be...but here's me hopping everyone i know is hung over and still in bed!
And for a month in the states i'm scared about the abundance of plans I have been making^^ Hope the concert was fun.

alexiswittman said...

So how did that particular concert go? Did you find a stranger or two??

Denice said...

That was such a while back. The concert was great and I was very, very glad I went, but no, I never worked up the nerve to talk to anyone. Funny thing: sometime later I went back to that same hole-in-the-wall venue to see another concert. That time it was a band that some of my coworkers are in and I met up with a couple good friends there. One of those is now my super best friend/adopted brother and the other is my roommate (ie No more parents' spare room for this girl.) It's nice to be able to look at life and see that things really do get better.

Denice said...
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