I’ve been helping out with the Union Working group for a while now. For me, it seems so easy to run the FB live and it’s not a big deal. But I know that for the core members/leaders of the group, it is a big deal because that is one less thing that they have to worry about. And they really don’t have to worry about anything because I come to the meetings with all the equipment needed to run it and I set things up without needing any help. And with our new location for the meetings, we have WiFi so it’s even easier to run the live stream.
I know how hard the core members/leaders of the group work to run Union Working, so when they invited me out to a hangout to celebrate an awesome year as a group I was really honored! I am friends with some of those leaders, but others are people who I don’t know that well and I was excited to get to hang out with them in a casual setting and get to know them better. When we are at the meetings, I don’t want to bother them since they are so focused and working on running the meeting. So this was an opportunity I didn’t want to miss.
The hangout was at a brewery that is near where we have our meetings. I got there early and had a chance to hang out with a friend of mine who is one of the leaders before other members arrived. We found a big table that would fit us all and people started arriving pretty quickly once we were sitting down. A bunch of people were ordering drinks, but fortunately the brewery had a nice food menu too so I got a grilled cheese (which was delicious!).
Most of the time we were there we were just talking about random things. Some of them were acting related, some of them were just normal every day things. The conversation never stopped and there were times that 2 or 3 different conversations were happening at the same time. I was seated at the middle of the table so I was able to be a part of it all, but sometimes I just sat back and enjoyed listening to everyone else. It was pretty entertaining when some people got a bit silly and I just had fun watching it all happen.
There were some moments where the group and the accomplishments of the past year were mentioned and each of us were singled out for what we were able to do. When it came to me, they thanked me for taking over the FB live and for just jumping in and helping. They also thanked me for keeping them on task and bringing new ideas. It just reminded me of how something that might not be a big deal to me is really appreciated by others and I should accept their thanks instead of playing it off. When it’s a big deal to someone, I should acknowledge that and allow them to thank me however they feel appropriate. I don’t have to play it down and try to be modest that I’m not doing much. It’s not an easy thing for me to do because I don’t like feeling like I’m getting credit I don’t deserve, but I did deserve the credit from their perspective.
As it goes with so many events like this, I had every intention of leaving at a reasonable hour so I could get home and to sleep, but that didn’t happen. I was just having too much fun hanging out with everyone and I didn’t want to leave. But I couldn’t stay too late since I did have a bit of a drive home and had an early workout the next morning. But I was there for a few hours before I said my goodbyes and headed back to my car.
I left the hangout really feeling like I had made friends out of more of these core members/leaders. While I’m sure they were always my friends before, I really got to know them when we weren’t worried about working and I feel much more a part of the group now. I’m happy just doing my FB live work, but if they want more I know that I am willing to do that because I want to help however I can. And I’m much more comfortable now asking for help from those leaders if I need it because I know them better now.
We’ve got some amazing things happening with Union Working in the new year and some things that will still be happening this year. I can’t wait to get to share them when I can because they are really cool. I love getting to be a part of this group and every time I meet with them I appreciate the group more and more.
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