Connecting more with friends since I started blogging. People I went to school with are knitted together electronically. The world is smaller than ever.
In school, a people whom we drifted in and out of intimacy with, as kids will do, surrounded us. Regardless of intimacy, they were generally there the next day and the next day. Familiar faces, personalities, specific laughs, and voices you could pick out in any crowd. I’m pretty sure with many of them, I still could.
After many years without them there to see me fall off my chair, set a ball, share books, compare bra sizes, whisper, giggle – did I not miss them? But I did. Now however, through this technology-net, impossibly dispersed groups of people show their faces on my computer screen daily. And regardless of degrees of intimacy, they are witnesses again when I fall down and when I stand. I feel more alive! Even seeing an angle of someone’s jaw line can take me back to a lawn and a tree and a bench we used to share between classes. In almost real-time, I am laughing at their jokes, fame and foibles. Crying with them when they lose.
Certain things are even better than they were when we were in school. We don’t have as much time for closeting behaviors, hurts, shame. It leaves more room for the real self to occupy. Read more about this in the post “Sunshine.”
So to all you old (and new ;)) friends who have given me this privilege, thank you for catching me in your “net.” Life with you is better.
Self Care Tip #58 – Connect with others to feel more alive. Be a friend to yourself.
Question: What has helped you feel more connected? Please tell me your story.
Definitely blogging and using Facebook has made me feel more connected to friends old and new. I am so lucky to have many of my former students, too, be a continued part of my life.
In the past when I was constantly surrounded by people (first as a student and then as a teacher) I would have described myself as a more introverted person (probably because I was so aware of the times I needed to go home to be with just myself to recharge). However, now that I work within the home and am less a part of the public, I realize just how extroverted I actually am and have always been… Being apart from people has shown me how much I really LOVE to be with people! The Internet has been a beautiful tool for me during this phase of my life, and Toastmasters has fed a part of me as well.
I would say, also, that having children has connected me more with the greater universe/a sense of Oneness. Since children, I am more connected to my own emotions and find myself more able to cry at the drop of a hat—at a poignant commercial, a sad movie, the suffering of others in the world.
My writing time (in blogs, private journals, poetry) has connected me more to myself and my inner drives.
Music, also. When my mind feels tightly wound, music always seems to smooth it out. It is almost a physical feeling. Music connects me to peaceful feelings and to energy. Music also connects me to memory.
The biggest connection for me to my memories, though, is through smell. A certain perfume I wore at a certain time. The smell of Earl Grey tea. A certain detergent. Scent is huge for me. Although scent has always been a dominant sense for me, it too has become more pronounced since having children.
Hey Sarah! I’ve missed u n dad! thanks for your lovely personal comment. that bit about your children connecting u w the universe – um wow! love it. music too. i will try to remember hat when i’m sitting by my kids saying “curve those fingers!” over and over. back check! and on. Keep on Sarah!