Another tough question to answer. I honestly feel like I am in a pretty good place in life right now, and I know how very fortunate I am. I can think of a few things that are sometimes difficult about my "lot in life," but when I compare these things to some of the things other people deal with on a daily basis, they seem trivial and hardly worth mentioning. So I almost feel like I can't/shouldn't even write on this topic without risking it sounding trivial or superficial. But, for the sake of my goal of completing this "Blog Every Day in May" challenge, I must :-) So, that being said, here is something that is "difficult about my lot in life" right now- with complete knowledge of how lucky I am that when it comes down to it, this is truly insignificant in the grand scheme of things.
Feeling Lonely - I don't feel this way all the time, but lately Australia has been feeling a bit more lonely that usual. I think it partly has to do with the fact that one of my best friends just visited recently (how dare she leave!), and also the fact that one of the girl's I've become good friends with here has just found out that she will be moving back to the US at the end of June. I realized pretty soon after graduating college, that it is hard to make friends as an adult post-college. And that's usually been somewhat bearable for me, because I am obsessed with the amazing friends that I already do have. Even when I lived in the US, most of my closest friends lived in other states, but I loved having an excuse to travel somewhere to visit them. However, now that dealing with this "lot" is not as easy, the issue seems to be magnified. I miss my friends. Not only do I miss my friends, I kind of just miss having friends here period. I have found it pretty difficult to meet people here. Don't get me wrong, I've met a ton of people here, and I have plenty of aquaintances, but not many that I've really connected with on a deeper level beyond that. Most of the time, this hardly bothers me at all, but sometimes this bothers me a lot.
What am I doing to overcome this? I love that today's prompt included this follow-up question, because it forces me to remember that with most problems it's important to remember that you can in fact do something to better a situation. And if I'm completely honest, I have to admit that I'm not being as proactive about this as I could be. Something I really do try to work at is: making an effort to maintain the amazing friendships that I do have and taking the time to stay in touch through phone calls, emails, text messages, mail, etc. However, I know that I need to put more effort into doing something to improve the "friend situation" here. Some of the opportunities I have to do this (organized coffee dates, monthly welcome meetings, etc.) are somewhat limited now that I'm working again and these events are unfortunately always during the day on weekdays. But I can't let that be an excuse to not do anything at all. I guess what this post has made me realize is that I'm not doing enough to overcome this supposed "lot." I need to make a more concerted effort to find some opportunities to meet new people and make connections.
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Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5 (Oops! :-/ I did blog on day 5, just not following the prompt...)
Day 6
Day 15
Megan,
ReplyDeleteI totally understand where you are coming from with trying to develop friendships that are deep and meaningful. I struggle with this all the time, how do you make real adult friends? There really isn't a guide to it, is there?
I have to work on getting myself out there. How about we keep each other on track for making new friends? ;-) Sound like a deal?
Deal!
DeleteIf only all of us blogging expats could be expats all together in one place. That would be problem solved! :-)