Would you believe it, the one day we’ve booked to go to Newbury races the weather was predicted to be wet and windy, there were rail strikes, which, as you can imagine, changed all of our plans immediately!
We contemplated cancelling but would have lost over £300 in ticket prices and, we wanted to see Sir Tom Jones and the end of the race day, that was the real reason for going in the first place.
So, a minibus was organised for the majority, another couple drove to the venue but we had made a decision that nothing was going to stop us from going. We brought a few extra umbrellas and prepared ourselves mentally for the worst. We got absolutely soaked! We were shivering, at times (Not as well planned as we thought) but we had a great day.
No-one really won or lost ‘big’ on the races, we had a few drinks and Tom Jones was fantastic. We got the minibus back to a local pub in Reading, had a few more drinks, something to eat and had an amazing time catching up with news, stories and future plans for people in our group.
We don’t often get together like that and we will make the effort to do it more often. So, we have discussed short breaks away in Portugal and the plans are taking shape already by getting dates agreed for next year. We had talked about the next ‘event’ which could be the races, a festival or just a BBQ together and the WhatsApp group is building momentum.
It will happen, the group will grow, the frequency will be balanced and we will make space in our busy lives, for each other. It is too easy to say “Let’s not bother” and make excuses not to put effort in to socialising. I know I sometimes prefer to sit on the sofa and chill out, without many people around me but, I am doing that far too often. I’m getting socially lazy!
Time to live life, have more fun and connect with others.
How would you describe your life right now? Are you getting comfortable doing nothing socially? With the complexity of the world we live in and also the simplistic nature of communication available to us, there needs to be a balance. Getting out of the comfy chair, putting yourself out, getting dressed up and going places with friends and family members, is still fun – even in the rain!
Here are my ‘go to actions’ for this week:
- Identify a group of people you want to re-connect with
- Invite them to a communication group
- Find out what people would like to do
- Agree when you’d like to do it
- Organise it together
Enjoy the excitement of having something to look forward to, irrelevant of the weather. ☔️