It can seem like I see my friends a lot more often than I actually do. Some of my friends are people I see at my workouts, some I see at union events, and some I have scheduled fun things like the musicals with. I love that I have friends who are a part of regular things I do in my life, but I also know that I have been relying on those way more often than I should. Everyone is very busy so I’m not the only person guilty of doing this, but I also know that I need to be active in fixing it when I realize this has become a regular problem.
The problem with fixing it is that it’s never easy to schedule hangouts. With all of our schedules being very different and not everyone having a steady schedule from week to week, it can take a month or longer to actually find a time that I can see certain friends. I know that it really isn’t something that can be fixed because we all have random jobs. The life of being a creative person means you usually end up jobs that have nontraditional schedules. I’m lucky that very few of my friends work late nights or graveyard shifts, but some of them do. And even with my friends that work “normal” hours, they don’t always have time after work because they usually have to make dinner, do errands, workout, and many of them have classes after work since that’s the only time they can fit it in.
So when I can make a plan quickly with a friend to hang out, it’s such a special treat. And I had that this week with a good friend of mine. We had seen each other at the Union Working meeting and were texting after the meeting discussing different union related issues. Our texts were becoming very long and we realized it would be easier to have this conversation in person. And by some miracle, we were able to find a time only a few days later that we could meet up to talk!
My friend came over to my side of town (which can be a pretty big deal in LA) and we met at a Starbucks near my house. Starbucks might not be the most interesting place to meet, but it was convenient and there is free parking (a rarity in LA). We met up after I was done with work that day and I was able to get there a bit early so we could have a table to sit at inside.
I honestly can’t remember the last time this friend and I had hung out outside of events we were both at. It easily has been years since that happened. And we did talk about a few life things going on with both of us but the majority of our hangout was discussing union related issues. My friend has some big concerns that they haven’t been able to get answers to and many of them are things that I had not considered. While some things weren’t the most positive things to hear, I’m glad they shared them with me because it’s important to know what other union members are thinking. There are some things they shared that are concerns of mine as well, and that got me thinking about being more active in trying to get answers or fix things.
One of the biggest things that is shared at the Union Working meetings is that we cannot complain about the union if we aren’t going to try to fix it. We are the union and we have the power to make it what we want it to be. I don’t have as much power to change things as other people do, but I still have a voice and a say in what happens. Even union members who aren’t elected in any way to serve have the ability to speak up. Many of them don’t because either they are scared or they don’t know how they can do it. And I do try to share with people how they can be more involved (like going to the W&W meetings we have next month about our commercial contract).
It didn’t feel like we were talking that long, but by the time my friend and I looked at the time about over 2 hours had passed! I guess that’s what happens when you hang out with someone awesome. And even though we were debating and disagreeing on many issues, we left the hangout with no hard feelings and we both respect each other just as much or more than we did before. That’s another sign of having an amazing friend. You don’t always have to think the same thing to get along.
Sometimes I feel like when I am trying to schedule a hangout with a friend I feel like it has to be something more than it really needs to be. Just going to Starbucks and having coffee together can be enough to strengthen a friendship and to be able to continue connecting with the people I love. I just need to be better about remembering to do it more often.
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Finding Time For Friends (or Busting Out Of My Routine)
Just A Fun Dinner Out (or Remembering To Have Fun)
Remembering To Have Some Fun (or Hangouts Don’t Always Have To Be Events)
Seeing Friends In Random Places (or Unscheduled Hangouts)
Happy Birthday Rayshell (or I Love Casual Hangouts!)
Having A Lot Of Repeat Days (or More Organizing and More Virtual Hangouts)
