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I’ve Been Going Alone To Social Places And It’s Glorious

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I don’t know at what point I got scared to go places alone, but I am so upset with myself for stopping.

Recently, my life has felt a little flip-turned upside down, and I’ve found myself with a lot of alone time during the middle of the day.

At first, I tried to fill it with people. Whatever they were doing, I was in. Activities, whatever.

Let’s go. I’m game.

Honestly, I just ended up babysitting a lot of kids for free while the people did things like go to the grocery store or cheat on their husbands who are building a house out of town or whatever.

So, I had to give that up pretty much just as fast as I began it. And then I started tagging along with groups. Meeting new people.

But like… those people always want to do their thing, and I realized quickly that sometimes I want to flutter into a situation and leave as quickly as I came. It’s the perfect situation for me.

Two Persons Holding Drinking Glasses Filled With Beer

So I started just going out alone.

At first it was scary. Like, really really scary.

But then, I remembered a younger, more confident Jamie. You see she used to work at Kmart. And she never spent her lunch alone in the break room.

She was always out and about. It’s how she met new, interesting people. How she found her peace in the middle of one of the craziest jobs of her life.

(Man, it gets weird when I wax poetic and start talking about myself in the third person, does it not?)

But here’s the thing about going out alone.

People just talk to you.

They carry on entire conversations as if you’re there for their amusement. I mean, after all, you’re an anomaly. Why do you exist? Crazy pink haired lady in the middle of the bar three drinks in and blogging about her life?

That’s definitely the person to tell your life story to.

But the thing is this, I don’t know what to do with these people. These characters I collect. Do I ask them to friend me on instagram? It’s terribly boring over there, and honestly the only place I have any fun anymore is Facebook or TikTok— and I post about a bazillion times a day, so that’s annoying to new people.

Which leads me to my next question…

How are we giving people our information these days? What are we telling them?

Sometimes it’s hard for me to tell people that I’m this crazy online person who lives her whole life out loud when I first meet them just because it’s such an odd thing.

Sure, if I was still in my twenties that would be a totally normal job, but now— here in my forties… wasn’t I supposed to get a real job by now and stop doing whatever this is?

But, I digress. The point is, I used to love going to these sorts of places alone. It was the most fun, until the world looked at me and said, “you aren’t supposed to go to Taco Bell by yourself. That’s weird.” (And by the world, I do mean this weird guy I used to make out with sometimes.)

And so I stopped. And I don’t know why I never got the courage to start back up, but I have. Here and now, and honestly I’m pretty into it.

Where should I go next?

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3 Comments

  1. I think it’s great , and 40 + influencers are totally a thing that is happening- it’s just rare. But it’s inspiring. … where should I go first?

  2. Yes, I usually go out to my husband and end up talking to others. It’s a great way to meet people when you move to a new city! You are a rockstar, keep on blogging.

  3. I did this a ton in my early 30s and after I got divorced. I felt like an anomaly but there was such freedom and growth learning people’s stories (in person). Have fun with it – you never know what might grow out of it!