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.