#3 Investing Time

Number 3 on my list is “invest more time in friends and family.” Confession time…though I love my friends and family dearly I am a self proclaimed hermit and proud of it. Given the choice to go out or stay at home I often choose to stay at home. People often disagree with me when I say I am an introvert. I’m not shy and I think that’s what people typically think it means. The truth is I’m not overly shy but I love my alone time, I love living on my own and I never mind spending time alone. Often times I dread going out in the evenings after work; once I am out I always have a good time and I manage but I always need my down time. If I have too much socializing in my life I tend to end up sick or just overtired and run down. I need alone time to refresh and regroup. Although I don’t really think there is anything wrong with this, I know that I miss out on stuff or maybe don’t have the depth of friendships I want with some of my friends because I don’t make the effort to get out and see them as often as I should. I know friendships are a two way street but sometimes I might not take part of my share. So as part of the list I wanted to make sure I made some concerted efforts over the next year and a half to reconnect with old friends, and spend more time with my closest friends and family.

I thought this item would be one that I never really knew if I could say it was ‘accomplished’.  Boy was I wrong…I almost think I could check this off the list as ‘completed’  by the end of this week. I have been busier than I have been in a long time.

Last Friday night I got together with one of my favorite group of ladies. About a year ago, 4 other girls from work and I started going out for dinner one Friday night a month. At the time a few of us were going through some significant changes in our lives and the other two were helping cheer us up and cheering us on. Since our first dinner out we have shared many laughs and they were there to pick me up post university drop out.  We did this last Friday night and had a great night.  We tried a new restaurant in town and had many laughs.

On Saturday night I met up with another old friend who I hadn’t had a good visit with in almost year. It was a night out and away from the kids for her and we checked out another great restaurant in town. We even splurged with desert.  

On Sunday night a past colleague invited me over for dinner with his wife and young son…I have cute nieces and nephews but this kid might be one of the cutest kids I have ever met. He kept us entertained all night.

Monday night I went snowshoeing with my sister and a friend at a women’s group in Petawawa. It was a nice warm clear evening and was a lot of fun. I had never been snowshoeing at night- there were about 20 women all with head lamps tracking across the fields at the civic centre. Its an 8 week group that hits all the trails in Petawawa.

Tuesday night I had a long overdue visit with another good friend. This is a friend that I don’t see near enough but whenever we get together we stay up way too late because we have so much to catch up on. She has been such a special friend to me. We met one summer when we were both students at the agency I am now employed at. We hit it off instantly and have remained friends ever since.  She has had a rough summer and fall and I am glad to see her slowly but surely getting back to herself and love our late night catch ups.

Thursday night I was planning to go skiing with a new colleague at work and got all the way out to the hill only to find out the hill was closed. So we came back to my place and had a glass of wine instead.

I’m not going to lie- I loved every moment of each time with all of those friends but I am beyond exhausted. I often envy people that can keep a busy social calendar and still feel rested each day.  Clearly I’m not really checking this off the list already but hope that over the year I get to spend more times like this with my friends and family... I just need to learn to spread it out a bit. I have some other fun things planned with friends in the next few months so stay tuned for those adventures.