When we last left off, I was about to go into some detail about the various barriers I have when it comes to establishing any form of relationship. So with no further ado...
Barrier #1: Meeting People.
Put simply, I don't ever meet anybody new, and I'm rarely in a good situation for meeting new people. I've generally been content with having a few close friends as opposed to plenty of acquaintances, so I've never made much of an effort to go out and meet the locals, and it's worked for me. Until now, I always got by on my own, and I never really cared.
But now it chills me to the bone.
The list of places where I do meet new people is depressingly small. Since I do not want to add another bulleted list to this blog quite yet, you'll be forced to read it in prose. First, there's the various fast food chains and convenience stores that I frequent on my way to work. As a former gas station attendant, I've swapped more than a few war stories with the good people at the VP where I go on my breaks from work.
Second, work. I generally get along well with my coworkers, and we share many hilarious stories of our past exploits. We're all pretty new to the hospital, so it's nice, tight bonding experience every night. However, I usually only work with the 7 people on my unit's shift, so I don't really get the chance to meet a whole lot of people who are not mentally ill while I'm at work.
Third, the occasional random people Jeff knows when I hang out with him.
That really does it for places I meet people. Since I'm not a particularly outgoing person myself, I don't end up meeting a large number of new people in any given period of time, and at times I can be surly enough to actually repel people from miles away. Also, working in the evening shift regularly prohibits me from joining any form of civic activity that would lead me to meeting more people, and since I can never go to sleep when I get off work, I'm always up for at least half the night doing pretty much nothing on weeks when Jeff works thirds.
And the night goes on so very slow.
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3 comments:
Hi, Andy! I came here from Expectant Waiting, in case you were curious.
I used to work a second shift and I found it incredibly isolating. It's really hard to socialize if you work when all your friends and family are enjoying their leisure time.
I don't know how you feel about animals, but getting a dog would definitely cause you to meet people. I don't have a dog myself, but take care of my parents occasionally, and I have discovered dog walkers to be the friendliest people on the planet. Plus everyone knows puppies are chick magnets, right? Just a thought.
Susie: Saturday is my little sister's wedding, and I work Sunday.
Sara: Hello and welcome. I'm not sure my apartment allows animals. I think they said yes to cats, but no to dogs, and I'm not sure I should be meeting people who walk their cats.
True confessions: I have been known to walk my cat (I even blogged about it). I don't usually meet anyone that way though. We cat walkers aren't nearly as friendly as the dog walkers. I did meet a teenage boy once while walking the cat. He asked me if that was my dog. Uh, WTF? I actually had to turn around and make sure there were no dogs behind me before I said, no, it's my cat.
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