Author Topic: Increasing social connections/social capital  (Read 63716 times)

Linea_Norway

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #100 on: February 14, 2018, 04:29:59 AM »
DH went to our cabin this weekend, without me. But the Danish guy that had talked about joining him didn't come for whatever reason. It is again the making a loose appointment on facebook that gives people the impression that they can take it lightly.

Tris Prior

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #101 on: February 14, 2018, 08:42:02 AM »

 It made me feel like I need to have more fun, because that is all people talk about. I don't have consumption-driven "fun" any more; I work constantly.  That's by choice, but it's hard to make conversation when I don't go on far away trips or drink fine wines, etc.  Oh well, that kind of socializing wasn't on my list anyway.


I had this problem when we were in extreme hair-on-fire-emergency a few years ago. We didn't even have Netflix, much less cable, so we couldn't talk about whatever the hot new TV show was. Couldn't afford movies so couldn't talk about that. Couldn't go out to eat or for drinks with people. Had literally NO fun. I had 3 jobs. I worked. That was it. It did make it really hard to make conversation with people.

We've relaxed this a little bit, so we can at least now, for example, discuss the latest netflix series with people instead of standing there and looking dumb.

I organised a birthday picnic party for myself last year, and I ended up inviting lots and lots of people, 40 adults (and about 30 kids), even some people I'm not that close to. About half turned up in the end. If I do it again this year (likely), I think I'll spread the net even wider. Could you bump up the number of invitations to your bf's party?

This is an excellent suggestion. The problem is that we just don't have that wide of a circle. Boyfriend could think of 6 people to invite, and a couple aren't really that close to us. Most of our friends have moved away; people are fleeing this city in droves and I don't blame them. I cannot tell you how many times I've met someone promising, we start hanging out, and then comes "I'm moving!" There are just not that many local people any more that we even talk to, much less socialize with.

We definitely need to widen our circle somehow. I feel like we've got a few strikes against us: in 40s but no kids, we're nerds but I hate to game (and nerds always, ALWAYS want to freaking game! Ugh! Though that's an option for Boyfriend, he doesn't mind it), general lack of disposable income for socializing. I don't meet many mustachians here. When one of my friends moved to a smaller city, she was shocked at how people have house parties. That's, like, the default weekend plan when you want to see your friends. There's less to do there, sure, but not NOTHING to do. While here, no one wants to hang out at people's house, in my experience. They want to go out and DO THINGS. She told me, "this is so weird and awesome! I can just invite people over! And they come! And they have fun! And no one's complaining that we're not at whatever club/bar/restaurant is trendy right now!"

I blew off the last MMM Chicago meetup because it was on a beach in cold weather (guys? Let's not do that again? ;) ) Maybe there'll be another one at some point.

I sometimes don't have the spoons for socializing, so I understand if that's the issue.

I think Boyfriend would rather die than celebrate his birthday in the snow. As would pretty much everyone we know. I guarantee that if we advertised this as an outdoor activity, literally NO ONE would come. (Probably including me and I am his partner, LOL.) Everyone here is so over winter. People just hibernate and refuse to go outside except when necessary for months on end.  I hear it's not that way in Norway and Scandinavia in general; that people there accept that the weather is shit but go out anyway. That's probably a healthier attitude.

OK, so, I think my goal is first going to be, widen our circle. Not even necessarily "make friends," though that's the larger goal. Maybe we should focus on literally just meeting more people, instead of finding friends. Maybe it's a numbers game - the more people you meet, the more likely it is to click with someone, even if it's just one person. And we should go into this with the attitude of, success = we met someone, not success = we made a friend who will socialize with us.

I have some opportunities coming up for this in a couple months when community garden season starts. I always plan on being more involved with my community garden org, and I do stay involved in the spring, but once the garden really gets going and I have a lot of work to do in it, I have a hard time balancing that and work and my side business (which ramps up in summer) and, y'know, trying to enjoy the few months of nice weather we have, haha.) And then I just can't find the time. I can try to do better with that this year.

I also need to get back into political volunteering. I meant to go to an organizing meeting a couple weeks ago but had an emergency with the cat so had to cancel. Hopefully there will be other opportunities coming up soon.

pachnik

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #102 on: February 14, 2018, 11:11:31 AM »
I think I need to be on this thread.   

My social life has grown smaller through the last few years.  A big part of that is that my closest friend became very sick with a mental illness.  I feel the lack of a close friend - we'd get together for tea at her place or go out for lunch and talked about everything.  She's frugal so we'd just go to inexpensive ethnic places so fairly MMM-ish.   We are still in touch but she isn't able to go out or even get together at her place regularly because she's in a care facility out of town.  She comes 'home' for a few days per week.  Her caregivers are trying to readjust her to living on her own and it going very slowly.   Last time I visited her was in November.  We stay in touch by phone every week or so though. 

I have some acquaintances though and some possibilities there.  I actually meet a lot of people since I attend two recovery groups.

However, my husband and I are lacking in couple friends.  We had a few that have petered out over the last year or so.   Not really sure why?  We've talked about doing some kind of volunteering together but haven't actually figured anything out yet.   At the end of the month, one of my groups is having a pot luck so we're going to that.  We've gone to meet-up groups in the past and maybe we could start again.

I like Tris' idea of meeting more people and eventually someone will click.   

frontstepdesign

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #103 on: February 14, 2018, 12:21:06 PM »
All those plans (book club meeting, pancake supper at the new church)...pbbbt.  I have a bad head cold.  Yay Olympics.

HappierAtHome

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #104 on: February 15, 2018, 02:04:55 AM »
Today I registered to attend an open session at my local Playgroup (not a childcare, but an Aussie thing with activities and socialising for kids with parents present, very low cost). I'm hoping that their schedule will have at least one good weekly session on one of my days off. As well as being fun for my baby, it will be a great opportunity to make local friends with kids the same age.

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #105 on: February 15, 2018, 03:05:51 AM »
Posting to follow.

Soon I'll need to work big time on re-building my social network. I recently cut ties with my old University friends. My remaining friends mostly come from work, but as our unit is shutting down soon we'll no doubt end up scattered across the country. This will leave me high and dry by next year if I'm not careful. : I








Poundwise

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #106 on: February 15, 2018, 04:45:29 PM »
Quote
Quote from: Tris Prior
Quote
Quote from: Poundwise on February 13, 2018, 08:14:22 PM
     It made me feel like I need to have more fun, because that is all people talk about. I don't have consumption-driven "fun" any more; I work constantly.  That's by choice, but it's hard to make conversation when I don't go on far away trips or drink fine wines, etc.  Oh well, that kind of socializing wasn't on my list anyway.

I had this problem when we were in extreme hair-on-fire-emergency a few years ago. We didn't even have Netflix, much less cable, so we couldn't talk about whatever the hot new TV show was. Couldn't afford movies so couldn't talk about that. Couldn't go out to eat or for drinks with people. Had literally NO fun. I had 3 jobs. I worked. That was it. It did make it really hard to make conversation with people.

This seems to be a fairly common problem for Mustachians, even non-hard-core ones like me.

Today I emailed a few old friends, not close ones, but people I esteemed and worked with in the past-- and it felt good.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #107 on: February 16, 2018, 12:40:58 AM »
Quote
Quote from: Tris Prior
Quote
Quote from: Poundwise on February 13, 2018, 08:14:22 PM
     It made me feel like I need to have more fun, because that is all people talk about. I don't have consumption-driven "fun" any more; I work constantly.  That's by choice, but it's hard to make conversation when I don't go on far away trips or drink fine wines, etc.  Oh well, that kind of socializing wasn't on my list anyway.

I had this problem when we were in extreme hair-on-fire-emergency a few years ago. We didn't even have Netflix, much less cable, so we couldn't talk about whatever the hot new TV show was. Couldn't afford movies so couldn't talk about that. Couldn't go out to eat or for drinks with people. Had literally NO fun. I had 3 jobs. I worked. That was it. It did make it really hard to make conversation with people.

This seems to be a fairly common problem for Mustachians, even non-hard-core ones like me.

Today I emailed a few old friends, not close ones, but people I esteemed and worked with in the past-- and it felt good.

It helps finding friends who'd like to join you for a running trip or a walk in the forest or something at your house. Or any other cheap activity that you doesn't require buying drinks in a commercial place.

Dicey

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #108 on: February 16, 2018, 01:27:52 AM »
@Tris Prior, I have written about this before, even on this thread, I think. (Posting during insomnia, sorry I'm fuzzy.) The library always needs volunteers, and I know this sounds sexist, but able-bodied men are worth their weight in gold, 'cause books=heavy. Go see if your nearest library has a Friends Group. I promise you will make new friends. Plus, library users naturally skew toward frugal, in my experience.

I didn't have cable for over a decade, but I always knew enough about the highest rated shows, because I READ about them - free! Think of it this way: if you saw the movie and I read the book, we have enough in common to have a conversation. Believing you can't converse with people about shows because you don't have cable is somewhat flimsy. Hell, you can always ask about their most/least favorite character or episode, then just relax and let 'em talk. Then you can change the subject. It totally works.

Serendip

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #109 on: February 16, 2018, 08:51:24 AM »
A friend hosted a 'social experiment' last year at our home (she wanted to do a trial run of a Conversation Dinner as she was supposed to facilitate one of these later on in the year to a larger group)

She send out invites to a set number of people, most of whom knew each other but perhaps not well. The only request was to come with a bottle of wine and an open mind.

She paired people up with someone they weren't familiar with and served each course of food with the option to discuss one of the questions on the "question menu".
Some of the questions were easy "tell me about a scent you remember from your childhood", others were more personal/intimate "have you ever kept a long-term secret from your family". You stayed in conversation with the one person you were paired with so it really felt like you were able to get to know them.

It was an interesting night, and highlighted how everyone has interesting stories to tell IF we ask the right questions. I think we can learn to engage in more meaningful conversation if we develop the skill. I am working on this, in the end it's using curiousity to draw things out of people without feeling pushy :)

(this friend also has a deck of conversation cards and can manage to get people talking about random things without it feeling contrived. ie ...the last time they puked, or the kindest thing anyone has ever done for them). ha--always makes for interesting evenings :)

Tris Prior

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #110 on: February 16, 2018, 09:06:18 AM »
There's a gun-control march going on Sunday. I'd like to go, but I don't want to do another march alone. I saw on Facebook that an acquaintance is going, so I messaged her to ask if she wanted to meet up. No response yet, and maybe she'll say no, but at least I asked, instead of stewing over why no one's responded to my "hey, who wants to go to this march with me" Facebook post. ! Win?

ETA:  she said she's going with her feminist group and I'm welcome to meet up with them! Bonus: I want to know more about this feminist group. I've been looking for something like that for a while but didn't want to just go in cold.
« Last Edit: February 16, 2018, 09:47:28 AM by Tris Prior »

Astatine

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #111 on: February 16, 2018, 03:23:19 PM »
I've been really tired this week so I haven't done many new things since last weekend. However, tonight I'm going to a Chinese NY pot luck dinner at a friend's house, and because I don't have transport, another friend will be giving me a lift there and back. I have a glut of cooking tomatoes so I'll give some to both the host of the dinner and the friend giving me a lift.

Depending on how tired I am today, I might text another friend and see if she wants to do anything tomorrow morning, like go to a park with her son.

Carrie

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #112 on: February 16, 2018, 03:47:24 PM »
I'm teaching a cooking class on Monday morning! And after that is over my week plans include setting up an afternoon play with a neighbor for my kid, finally inviting a few people for coffee next Monday  (forgot this Monday was a holiday, plus cooking class commitment).

I visited with a few people yesterday. Asked advice & shared experiences.


Astatine

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #113 on: February 16, 2018, 03:50:20 PM »
I'm teaching a cooking class on Monday morning! And after that is over my week plans include setting up an afternoon play with a neighbor for my kid, finally inviting a few people for coffee next Monday  (forgot this Monday was a holiday, plus cooking class commitment).

I visited with a few people yesterday. Asked advice & shared experiences.



Well done!!!

Serendip

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #114 on: February 16, 2018, 06:03:03 PM »
-Catching a ride with someone I know through a friend, to go have dinner with a couple of friends (who moved to a nearby town)

-Going to a music event, even though I most likely will want to go to bed :)

-Making plans to have an art date with another 'lost friend' who I haven't seen in ages (she has a young daughter)

« Last Edit: February 17, 2018, 01:04:43 PM by Serendip »

Astatine

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #115 on: February 16, 2018, 06:03:35 PM »

Depending on how tired I am today, I might text another friend and see if she wants to do anything tomorrow morning, like go to a park with her son.

Friend is unavailable but she suggested catching up weekend after next.

Carrie

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #116 on: February 16, 2018, 06:53:14 PM »
I love the encouragement on this thread. :)
I forgot another Thing. I'm taking my two youngest to a birthday party tomorrow.  My goals are to get to know a few people better - by asking questions & listening. I need to pay attention to cues and try not to say something awkward or too controversial.

QuillScroll

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #117 on: February 19, 2018, 07:12:15 AM »
Thanks for this thread, I just stumbled upon it.
I and my hubby are both introverts and are very uncomfortable in general with too many (read anybody other than us) people around.
But this year I made a resolution to reach out to friends and family and stay in touch, attend more get together and do stuff as a community.
I'll keep posted how it goes.

Tris Prior

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #118 on: February 19, 2018, 11:12:46 AM »
I met up with the feminist group as well as my acquaintance who pointed me in their direction, at the protest yesterday. They seemed nice, but my friend told me that the actual group is closed to new members, outside events like yesterday's, because they are "at capacity."

Oh well. I achieved my primary goal of not attending the protest alone and having some social interaction with new folks.

This echoes something I've heard somewhat often from people who are local to me - the feeling that they don't have time for new friends, already have enough friends, etc. I'm wondering how commonplace this is or whether it's a thing that's unique to my city (and possibly other large cities like NYC where things tend to be faster-paced and people tend to overcommit themselves).

Serendip

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #119 on: February 19, 2018, 11:28:28 AM »
-Went for a 2.5 hour catch-up walk with a friend

-Made plans for another get-together with someone I haven't seen in months

-Will actively invite some friends to come visit while my SO is gone in March

@TrisPrior  I don't think it's a unique problem for large cities--I live in small town with high seasonal turnover and people suffer from the fatigue of getting to know new people (who are only here short term)
Sure, there are benefits to long-term relationships however I think if you have a good connection, who cares if it's for 5 days or 5 years?!

Age-wise though, there is also this time period when people are nesting/maybe busy with family and I try to be considerate of that since I don't have children myself.

Carrie

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #120 on: February 19, 2018, 01:29:46 PM »
I have a lot to report.
Saturday I went to a child's birthday party and had a blast.  Since the kids were entertained, I had plenty of time to visit with the adults. So many good connections were made. I made plans to meet up with two of the people next week at a coffee shop. ;)
Sunday I texted with a friend who will host the next neighborhood brunch, next Monday, and I'm really looking forward to that. We're adding another lady to our invite.
I sent condolences to the family over a death of a former coworker (of mine, from 17 years ago), but I do feel a little bit bad that I didn't go to the visitation yesterday.
This morning I taught my cooking class! It was good, and I'm going to do it again. This really pushed me beyond my comfort zone.


Dollar Slice

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #121 on: February 19, 2018, 01:43:51 PM »
Went out this weekend with someone from out of state who I had met when she was visiting in 2015. We've kept in touch a bit on Facebook so when she comes back to NYC she usually pings me to see what I'm up to. Turns out she and her partner are moving to NYC in a few months so now she will be a local friend :-)

We went to a concert and I made a bit of an extra effort to go talk to the drummer afterwards as he's one of my favorite drummers and he's always been very friendly to me. And then I got sucked into a conversation with the guitarist (who I'm very shy with because I'm a megafan of his) and managed not to say anything stupid enough to haunt me late at night when I'm lying awake and can't sleep. This is a major accomplishment when you have social anxiety ;-)

I'm wondering how commonplace this is or whether it's a thing that's unique to my city (and possibly other large cities like NYC where things tend to be faster-paced and people tend to overcommit themselves).

I haven't really found this to be true in NYC... there is a lot of population turnover (old residents leaving, new residents arriving) and lots of single/childless people, so there are tons of people looking to make friends and who have lots of time to socialize. I think the fast-paced/over-committed stuff results in making more casual friendships, though. People are much flakier here than where I used to live.

Astatine

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #122 on: February 19, 2018, 09:07:45 PM »
Proposed a time, date and location for my local MMM meetup for early March. :D

And I finally got around to booking a table at a cafe this Saturday so me and DH can have lunch with my old school friend, her husband and their kid. I had to book online (ugh, I hate the uncertainty) and am waiting to hear back from the cafe to see if my booking was confirmed or not. I get that online bookings are less work for cafes and restaurants but I don't like a) not getting the instant feedback as to whether my booking is confirmed and b) not being able to confirm any particular seating requirements (eg indoors vs outdoors).

And friends of the weekly dinner will be back in town after being away for a few weeks, so it will be nice to have that routine back in place. I do quite like standing social arrangements where you just have to show up weekly etc at a predetermined time and place. Takes out a lot of the mental and emotional labour for everyone. (not very common unfortunately - maybe that's a goal I can work towards later this year - set up some more routinised socialising)

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #123 on: February 20, 2018, 06:28:04 PM »
Congrats to everyone on their sociability! This thread has made me realize that I'm actually a bit more social than I had imagined, which is good.

Yesterday, though - I got to dance class early, and there were two people standing on opposite sides of the room. "I'm going to make friends!" I thought to myself, and approached one of them. "Hey, I haven't seen you here before!" I said. "Oh, I'm here visiting from Thailand," the lady said.

"You're from Thailand? That's where I'm from!!!" the other lady cries out. The first lady ran across the room, talking excitedly in Thai, and they hugged and began chatting in rapid-fire Thai, ignoring me completely.

Well, at least I instigated a friendship, albeit not in the way I intended. Sigh.

QuillScroll

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #124 on: February 21, 2018, 08:03:13 AM »
I attended a HOA meeting at my community yesterday. After the meeting, took the effort to meet each one and chit chat for few minutes. Couldn't meet all of them but guess I would have atleast met 10 people few known before and few for the first time.
I felt emotionally exhausted but also thrilled at making so many new connections.

QuillScroll

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #125 on: February 21, 2018, 08:06:22 AM »
they hugged and began chatting in rapid-fire Thai, ignoring me completely.

That was rude of them..  but as you said, you helped create a new friendship :)

Bee21

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #126 on: February 22, 2018, 03:16:48 AM »
Need to work on this as I am getting totally antisocial these days. When the kids were little I did make an effort to socialise with other moms to help them make friends, but now they are at school and I am less inclined to spend my limited free time on polite chit chat while the kids are playing.  I actually don't want to to talk to people these days, I know it is bad. People just freak me out. I went out to a couple of events with some school moms, but it is girls only (my husband cannot stand their husbands, we tried), plus these these women are quite complex characters and it feels like I am  walking on eggshells around them.

I think I will try to find a local book club or a choir. Keep trying.  I even organized a playdate for next week.


Dicey

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #127 on: February 22, 2018, 03:38:36 AM »
I met up with the feminist group as well as my acquaintance who pointed me in their direction, at the protest yesterday. They seemed nice, but my friend told me that the actual group is closed to new members, outside events like yesterday's, because they are "at capacity."
Don't sweat this. People move around, lives change, openings happen eventually. Sometimes, that response is just a cover for, "We'd like to get to know you a little better before we invite you to stay and play." Just keep on being you. Participate in "outside events" as it suits you and just see where it goes. All groups need new members in due time, or else they die. Literally. 

Poundwise

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #128 on: February 22, 2018, 06:06:51 AM »
I met up with the feminist group as well as my acquaintance who pointed me in their direction, at the protest yesterday. They seemed nice, but my friend told me that the actual group is closed to new members, outside events like yesterday's, because they are "at capacity."
Don't sweat this. People move around, lives change, openings happen eventually. Sometimes, that response is just a cover for, "We'd like to get to know you a little better before we invite you to stay and play." Just keep on being you. Participate in "outside events" as it suits you and just see where it goes. All groups need new members in due time, or else they die. Literally.

+1. 

Such a shame, though!  My group is always recruiting, because it is so hard to find people who will actually get out there and be active. You can only count on a third (at the very best) to be able and willing to do the necessary.  But I guess different groups have different dynamics. Certainly the biggest jump-starts to my social life has been joining volunteer associations, and more recently, political groups. There must be another group near you looking for members, even if this one is not!

And, MrsWhipple, your story was both hilarious and sad!! I guess those ladies were lonely, but it was indeed rude of them. Maybe you should move that post over to the "good deeds" challenge. :P

Quote
Quote from: Tris Prior
Quote
Quote from: Poundwise on February 13, 2018, 08:14:22 PM
     It made me feel like I need to have more fun, because that is all people talk about. I don't have consumption-driven "fun" any more; I work constantly.  That's by choice, but it's hard to make conversation when I don't go on far away trips or drink fine wines, etc.  Oh well, that kind of socializing wasn't on my list anyway.

I had this problem when we were in extreme hair-on-fire-emergency a few years ago. We didn't even have Netflix, much less cable, so we couldn't talk about whatever the hot new TV show was. Couldn't afford movies so couldn't talk about that. Couldn't go out to eat or for drinks with people. Had literally NO fun. I had 3 jobs. I worked. That was it. It did make it really hard to make conversation with people.

This seems to be a fairly common problem for Mustachians, even non-hard-core ones like me.

It helps finding friends who'd like to join you for a running trip or a walk in the forest or something at your house. Or any other cheap activity that you doesn't require buying drinks in a commercial place.

It's true, I should invite people to do things, rather than go to parties.  Usually I thrive in group working events, but I lost my footing in an event where the sole goal was to socialize.

Serendip

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #129 on: February 22, 2018, 08:46:54 AM »
Have been feeling a bit blue recently (as in February)
 so this is good thread is a good reminder for me.

-going to see family next week (they live quite far so I usually only go once or twice/year, but there is a new addition who I am excited to spend time with!)

-went for a walk with a friend who has an 8 month old, so haven't seen her much recently

-connected via text chat with an old roommate and made plans to get together this spring/summer

-tentatively planning for an art school friend to come visit

These are all connections with people I already know, so will work on meeting some new ones as well!
« Last Edit: February 22, 2018, 09:46:36 PM by Serendip »

Tris Prior

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #130 on: February 22, 2018, 09:22:31 AM »
I responded to a friend's "Hey! Who wants to join us to see Black Panther?" Facebook post instead of assuming he didn't mean us. So we're going in a group. Money's really tight right now due to vet bills but we bought tickets anyway. I feel kind of guilty about that.

I really wish it was easier to meet people who don't want to spend money (who also are not 25 years younger than me and broke as hell due to being just out of school; nothing against them, I don't hate millennials, but I'd like to have friends who have similar life experiences to me, you know?)

Along those lines, there's a Chicago meetup thread going on right now, for anyone else reading this who's in Chicago area? https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/meetups-and-social-events/calling-all-chicago-mustachians/msg1908157/#msg1908157

Astatine

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #131 on: February 22, 2018, 02:36:56 PM »
I'm still low on energy so I haven't stretched myself this week but I did do a few things online.

I've started playing Words with Friends on my phone again and a few days ago reconnected with a friend on the game (WWF has a chat function).

I've chatted a bit online with my old friend from university who lives in another city.

I continue to exchange pics of cute animals with a friend via DM on Twitter.

Also, this Saturday is the monthly community day for Pokemon Go and I'm wondering if I'll have enough energy after having lunch with my friend to go hang out with my local Pokemon Go community and do some raids etc. (I'm part of a big Facebook chat group for my local area. If anyone else plays Pokemon Go and lives in an urban area, there should be some sort of raiding community you can join if you're looking to meet new people.)


Carrie

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #132 on: February 22, 2018, 03:09:10 PM »
Yesterday I went to a parent meeting at school, visited with several people. Got a text afterwards inviting me to join two of the ladies this morning for coffee. It was fun, and will probably do it again soon. Bonus - one of the ladies owns the coffee shop so my coffee was comped. :)
Met up with a new neighbor at the playground, then invited her & her child to my house. They came over, even though my house was kinda messy. I don't think she cared. This neighbor texted me today. (I'm making a new friend, y'all!)
Still have a social thing on Monday (neighbor coffee at a house).
I'm contemplating becoming politically active, but not quite sure I'm there yet. I know I'll be adding more charity work to my plate, since my demo was a success. The director of the organization seemed awesome and like we could work well together.
All in all, a busy week of making connections.

Astatine

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #133 on: February 22, 2018, 08:11:31 PM »
I did a Pokémon Go raid with a few people today. I had never met any of them before. Pokémon Go has made me a lot better at talking to strangers :)

I found out about a Pokémon Go Community Day bbq organised by the local playing community. It’s on tomorrow afternoon. If I still have energy after meeting a friend for lunch tomorrow, I’ll go along to the bbq. It will be a stretch for me re social anxiety because I don’t really know anyone that well. But, I can always just talk about the game. Most people in the community are far more obsessed with it than me :)


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rosarugosa

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #134 on: February 23, 2018, 11:58:38 AM »
I need to join in and will work to think of some realistic goals.  I retired late last year, and a lot of my admittedly minimal socialization needs were met through work.  I've kept up with several co-workers via FB and e-mail.  I do seem to have more energy for socialization without work (in HR no less) sucking all the life from me, but most of my socialization is within a very narrow circle of family and friends.  I do get to spend a lot more time with my BFF sister which is wonderful.  She is pretty social, and a lot of the friends I've made as an adult are courtesy of my sweet little sister!
I'm enjoying hearing of everyone's goals and progress.  Thanks for the great thread!

imadandylion

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #135 on: February 23, 2018, 02:22:48 PM »
This is such a good idea for a thread.

I'll join, too.

I have the sort of planner that is very organized and encourages you to write out your goals for lifetime, 3-year, 1-year, and 3-month "deadlines." Last year, I wrote that one of the things that was important to be was making friends.  Well, for my 2018 planner, I didn't, because I want to be razor-focused on my other goals (mostly related to career, money, and travel). But now I feel like it's not good to *not* strive for this goal, too. Even though I am an introvert and can enjoy being at home, it's still important to cultivate relationships and memories.  This is going to come off as a little bit weird, but last year I got engaged and I didn't really think too much about it. Then we started wedding planning, and when it came to the guest list, I felt weird about who I would invite because I'm truly the worst at keeping in touch with people, I realized! We always have those friends that you can pick up where you left off, but still, we want this to be a fun party/celebration full of friends, not acquaintances. I have some people that I might consider friends, but wonder if they're friends "enough" to invite to a wedding. Don't get me wrong, I don't want friends as accessories to a wedding.  It's just that this life event that is supposed to be filled with joy and relationships (to me, anyway) and this is an excellent motivator to keep current friendships going or turn fledgling relationships into definite friendships.  I'm kind of strict at the idea of who is considered a true friend, too. I feel like most people just consider everyone they meet a friend (e.g. facebook friends), but I don't, so that makes it more complicated for me.

Other than the lifetime relationships thing, I also just want to be a nice, good ol', well-rounded person.  I would describe myself as a friendly person and really don't mind talking to strangers. But when it comes to hanging out... ugh. The whole money-spending thing really gets me.

Some things I'm doing or plan to:

- I accepted an invitation with coworker-friends to go rock climbing on account of free passes, but then remembered the shoe rentals are not free so I declined and explained I'm trying to save money for the wedding and stuff... but instead of just declining and not saying anything else, I offered to do a board game night instead, or a dining out event to a restaurant we talked about before that they might want to try. We have also discussed starting a book club, so I will try to bring that up again when we do board game night.  I am working on being honest and not secretive about saving money, because when I have declined invitations and have been up to doing my own things and being busy with that with zero explanation, people legitimately started to think I didn't like them anymore.

- Plan a visit my sister and her kids. Yup, I'm so introverted, I sometimes don't even talk to my family that much. lol... anyone else like this?  Maybe I will bake snickerdoodles with my niece. :) Realllly need to spend more time with the kids so they actually remember who I am!!

- Need to arrange a girl's day with a friend I don't really hang out with often because she lives in another city!  I just wanted to mention, in case anyone needs ideas, I met this person on girlfriendsocial.com, which is strictly a website for women who are looking for friendship.

- My dental hygienist is really cool, and every time I got get my teeth checked out or cleaned, she is SO fun to talk to and we have a lot in common. Sometimes we just talk a bunch before even getting to the actual work, ha! I would love to hang out with her, she seems very interesting and relatable.  At my next appointment, I should try to talk about some of our interests (like photography) and see if we could do something together outside of the dental office related to that! This sounds funny to me because it's so premeditated...

- Try to hang out a couple friends from middle school. Now these are the type who you can just pick up where you left off... in that case, "left off" was the early years of college... oops. It's difficult, too, because of the whole different cities thing, but it's not that far... I really need to make an effort!!

- Maybe plan to go hang out with coworker-friend based on invitation to go to a running event. I balked at the price of admission at any length of run and she mentioned we could just cheer them on and hang out afterward and explore the city. I might do that. This is next month, which at least, is enough notice to plan to use some $$ on food that day?

- Could also plan a pot luck/dinner party. I have hosted one before with coworkers and it was fun. But that was a long time ago, so we are overdue. I also used to organize a coworkers brunch, but it's hard when you're vegan to find brunch places, lol. Maybe change this event to a dinner thing since there are more options.

- Maybe reach out to a friends-couple that we met in the last city we used to live! It was honestly such a bummer having to move because we just met them and were hanging out and having a lot of fun. Plus, how often do you cultivate friendships as a COUPLE? You always have friends that have significant others, but it's different when you're all just genuinely friends all around.  They really SUCK at text messages, though, which is part of the reason why we haven't kept in touch. Maybe we can make a plan to visit this city and meet up with all friends that live there? :/ I will send a text and put it out there. If nothing happens, then at least I tried!

ozmickey

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #136 on: February 24, 2018, 11:05:34 AM »
Well I had a good week:
1. I met up with a former coworker for a walk around our Botanical Garden and brunch.
2. I met a friend for dinner after work. She works two jobs and her spare time is very constricted. I hope we can start meeting monthly.

Next week:
1. Book Club after work - this is a new club that I have been to once.
2. I have a friend who lives overseas, I need to send her a Facebook message.
3. I am a member of a Meetup group that is active, I should sit down and figure if I can get to any of the planned events.

Serendip

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #137 on: February 24, 2018, 09:29:41 PM »
-Went for another walk with my friend who has a baby (she confessed she is eager to get out of the house..so we might try to do more frequent walks)

-Booked a ride to the airport with a ride-sharing site vs. taking a shuttle-bus

-Have 2 ski dates (alpine) set up for this week & 1 XC ski evening :)

Astatine

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #138 on: February 25, 2018, 10:47:58 PM »
Welcome any newbies to the thread! And I love all the updates <3 Very inspiring, and I'm so glad others are finding this thread helpful too.

*cheers everyone on*

I did a Pokémon Go raid with a few people today. I had never met any of them before. Pokémon Go has made me a lot better at talking to strangers :)

I found out about a Pokémon Go Community Day bbq organised by the local playing community. It’s on tomorrow afternoon. If I still have energy after meeting a friend for lunch tomorrow, I’ll go along to the bbq. It will be a stretch for me re social anxiety because I don’t really know anyone that well. But, I can always just talk about the game. Most people in the community are far more obsessed with it than me :)

Sigh. My weekend plans got derailed by annoying health stuff. I spent Friday night in the emergency department at the hospital with an infection (I'm in a high risk category), spent a couple of hours at home sleeping and then had to go to another health clinic to get something else sorted out. So I had to postpone the Saturday lunch with a friend and only managed a short period of time at the Pokemon Go community event. But, I made myself say hi to a few people at the Pokemon Go event. (the tricky bit was working out who was part of the organised event and who was just there playing by themselves and not wanting to talk to anyone)

At least I made it to weekly dinner at friends' house on Sunday night. But even that almost didn't happen thanks to flash flooding and road closures. (we decided to go a bit late to make sure that the floods had drained enough and we went a different route to avoid the dodgy spots)

Linea_Norway

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #139 on: February 26, 2018, 03:20:47 AM »
I spent a week with DH at our mountain cabin. The last 3 days with 2 friends that I had invited. Nice to meet up again, as we hadn't met for a few months. We had great weather and good cross country skiing circumstances.

pachnik

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #140 on: February 26, 2018, 07:01:19 AM »
I had a social fail over the weekend. 

Mr. P and I were going to a potluck for a group I belong to on Saturday at 4:00.  However,  I woke up Sat. morning with a migraine.  I think it was from the stress at work from the previous week - our server got a ransomware virus.   We weren't up and running until Thursday.  Then had to back track and correct some documents.   So I cancelled our attendance.  I didn't have the spoons for shopping/cooking for a potluck and then being in a crowded room for several hours. 

I have been enjoying reading other people's stuff though. 

Astatine

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #141 on: February 27, 2018, 10:09:09 PM »
How is everyone else going? I've been a bit unwell which never helps with my background social anxiety. I have a few things I've been procrastinating on so maybe if I write them here I will actually do them and not feel like it's lurking/hanging over my head.

1) Play the next go against my friend in Words with Friends and respond to her chat comment (I feel out of my depth in responding, but on reflection that would almost definitely be because I feel very tired after treatment for a bad infection).

2) Work out if I'm well enough to go out to a $$$ dinner with friends tomorrow night (we've all prepaid for a special meal by a chef that a few of my friends stan for).

3) Message someone who bought Tupperware at my recent party and tell her DH and I will try to deliver her order to her at home one weekend soon (she has two small kids).

4) Message friend who is like a sister and see if she wants to catch up for a picnic sometime soon.

5) Message friend and see if she's still available to catch up in mid March (and I need to research to see if the location she suggested still has an open cafe or not - there have been some recent big changes there).

6) Reschedule lunch with another friend (we were supposed to catch up last Saturday for lunch, and I booked us a table and everything, but I needed to go to hospital for treatment :/)

ETA 7) Message an online friend who is very much on my wavelength despite cultural and language differences, but we haven't had a proper conversation for several years now and I miss her.


Also, this challenge has made me articulate one of the things that I get anxious about: while I've learnt that yes, my close friends do love and care about me, I always feel like that it can evaporate and be gone in a moment if I say or do the wrong thing, and I always jump to the worst possible conclusion. I know where this has all come from (childhood trauma stuff) but it is very hard to unlearn deep emotional reactions. (I don't share my fears with anyone, just DH, and apparently, now all of you)
« Last Edit: February 27, 2018, 10:15:55 PM by Astatine »

Linea_Norway

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #142 on: February 27, 2018, 10:19:41 PM »
Next week is my evening out with girls from my departure at work. I am atill figuring out how to get to that town in the cheapest way. The restaurant that is reserved looked very reasonably priced and had good reviews.

I am considering to visit an event in September. It is in another part of the country and probably more than a day driving. Plane would be more practicle. The event is 4 days and stays at a hotel. This is not cheap. Finding a place in a nearby forest to set up my tent is of course setting me far apart from the rest of the people. I guess I will have to choose to either go and pay full pot or not go. I could try to share a twin room with someone.

Dollar Slice

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #143 on: February 27, 2018, 10:48:44 PM »
The last couple of days (and likely tomorrow again) I've been very anti-social, but that's because I was heavily social over the weekend and needed a break from people. Friday I was going to stay home but decided to do a friend a favor because it was his birthday, and this morphed into a 90-minute wait in line talking to people (strangers) the whole time, some of whom I might see again in the future - we made vague plans to be in the same place at the same time but didn't exchange contact info. Then I went out with my friend and his girlfriend for dinner afterwards even though I was exhausted. It was really fun, but I spent $25 on a taxi home because we weren't done until midnight and I was utterly zonked. Saturday I only had maybe 30 minutes of chatting with people, plus a brief but meaningful-to-me quick handshake with someone I greatly admire. Sunday was another heavily social evening with probably 3+ hours of chatting with different people, including both strangers and friends, plus a great 20-minute conversation with someone I'd like to get to know better.

Taking a few days off to recharge, but I'm trying to get together a group of people to do something fun on Thursday. I've got two "maybes" and a couple of "I'd like to but I can't," but no "yes" so far...

HappierAtHome

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #144 on: February 28, 2018, 12:52:27 AM »
I went to mums' group today despite feeling blergh and having a difficult nap schedule to contend with.

Unfortunately I felt crappy afterwards - I said a few things that didn't quite come out how I meant them, and had that feeling like I wasn't quite on the same wavelength as my mums' group friends. Blergh.

Yesterday and today I have made an effort to either reach out to people or respond to their contact, including making plans with two friends. Also responded to the Meetup thread to arrange a brunch that at least one excellent MMMer will be at (hopefully more!).

I'm working my way up to responding to emails and PMs, which I've been putting off while feeling extra anxious for the last little while.

Also, this challenge has made me articulate one of the things that I get anxious about: while I've learnt that yes, my close friends do love and care about me, I always feel like that it can evaporate and be gone in a moment if I say or do the wrong thing

Did I write this??

Astatine

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #145 on: February 28, 2018, 01:01:51 AM »
Also, this challenge has made me articulate one of the things that I get anxious about: while I've learnt that yes, my close friends do love and care about me, I always feel like that it can evaporate and be gone in a moment if I say or do the wrong thing

Did I write this??

<3 <3 <3 I'm torn between argh, I'm so sorry you have the same feelings cos they SUCK and *phew* not just me.

(tbh I even get these feels on this forum with lots of people, including you :/)

HappierAtHome

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #146 on: February 28, 2018, 01:19:16 AM »
Also, this challenge has made me articulate one of the things that I get anxious about: while I've learnt that yes, my close friends do love and care about me, I always feel like that it can evaporate and be gone in a moment if I say or do the wrong thing

Did I write this??

<3 <3 <3 I'm torn between argh, I'm so sorry you have the same feelings cos they SUCK and *phew* not just me.

(tbh I even get these feels on this forum with lots of people, including you :/)

ME TOO :-/

Astatine

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #147 on: February 28, 2018, 03:33:39 AM »
Also, this challenge has made me articulate one of the things that I get anxious about: while I've learnt that yes, my close friends do love and care about me, I always feel like that it can evaporate and be gone in a moment if I say or do the wrong thing

Did I write this??

&lt;3 &lt;3 &lt;3 I'm torn between argh, I'm so sorry you have the same feelings cos they SUCK and *phew* not just me.

(tbh I even get these feels on this forum with lots of people, including you :/)

ME TOO :-/

In conclusion:

1) anxiety sucks, specially social anxiety

2) brains can be dumb

Tris Prior

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #148 on: February 28, 2018, 09:07:39 AM »


Also, this challenge has made me articulate one of the things that I get anxious about: while I've learnt that yes, my close friends do love and care about me, I always feel like that it can evaporate and be gone in a moment if I say or do the wrong thing, and I always jump to the worst possible conclusion. I know where this has all come from (childhood trauma stuff) but it is very hard to unlearn deep emotional reactions. (I don't share my fears with anyone, just DH, and apparently, now all of you)

Me too. I think because this did happen to me repeatedly as a kid and a teen. The sudden freeze-out that girls do to one another sometimes for no apparent reason - one day everything's great, the next day they all decide somehow "We're going to start ignoring Tris from now on." Leaving me standing there wondering WTF just happened.

I do feel that, for me, it's less worrying that I'm going to say or do the wrong thing (though that is a factor), and more feeling as though I just don't exist to them unless I'm constantly making overtures. Less "I've offended someone," more "I don't matter." If that makes sense.

March has some stuff coming up for me:

- My community garden org is having a seed swap on Sunday and I decided to volunteer at it, in addition to just going to get my grabby hands on free seeds.

- The garden org also requires us all to attend mandatory orientation before the season starts, regardless of how long we've been doing it. This year, they're having separate orientation sessions based on which garden location you're in (there are 6 or 7, I think?) I think this is a great idea as that way you can meet people that you're likely going to be seeing in the garden all season long and maybe make some connections. So I'm going to that.

- We heard about a Buffy trivia night that sounds hilarious so we're going to that in hopes of meeting more nerds.

- Friend's birthday party

- At month's end a couple of our friends from St. Louis are coming up for a visit. Really looking forward to that. Except that one of them always makes comments on any tiny visible bit of dirt or dust she finds in our apartment. NOT looking forward to that. Anyone have scripts to shut that kind of thing down? We've already tried the "it hurts our feelings when you point out our shortcomings re our housekeeping ability" and in return got "well, it's important to have a clean house." Oh, OK then?

- Boyfriend's birthday party. We're both terrified that no one's going to show up, and the event he chose required him to make a reservation and put up money up front. So I guess we'll have to eat that, if no one shows. (It's an activity that really requires more than him and me.) I have no idea what to do to make him feel better if people do indeed end up blowing off his 50th.

Serendip

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Re: Increasing social connections/social capital
« Reply #149 on: February 28, 2018, 09:27:44 AM »


Also, this challenge has made me articulate one of the things that I get anxious about: while I've learnt that yes, my close friends do love and care about me, I always feel like that it can evaporate and be gone in a moment if I say or do the wrong thing, and I always jump to the worst possible conclusion. I know where this has all come from (childhood trauma stuff) but it is very hard to unlearn deep emotional reactions. (I don't share my fears with anyone, just DH, and apparently, now all of you)

Me too. I think because this did happen to me repeatedly as a kid and a teen. The sudden freeze-out that girls do to one another sometimes for no apparent reason - one day everything's great, the next day they all decide somehow "We're going to start ignoring Tris from now on." Leaving me standing there wondering WTF just happened.

I do feel that, for me, it's less worrying that I'm going to say or do the wrong thing (though that is a factor), and more feeling as though I just don't exist to them unless I'm constantly making overtures. Less "I've offended someone," more "I don't matter." If that makes sense.


It makes so much sense!!
I have been reading a just released book called Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression and the Unexpected Solutions (Johann Hari)
(the author also did a TED talk about addicts & the need for connection)

Essentially the author is looking at the skewed research on the brain chemistry side for depression and making the argument that we *as a society* are actually having a very normal/good responce to a very weird & f'd up world. We have lost our connection to neighbors, tribes, families, on top of uncertain jobs, finances, place in the hierarchy, ability to be self-determined when we have little choice in so many things.

I thought of this group & how we all are realizing we desire more connection.
The book also goes into trauma shaping how we read people/navigate the world.

End point: I think we are onto something..keep reaching out :)


 

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