So I have no friends, that fact has already been established on my last post. Now I must set about making new, hopefully available, friends. This post should be about all my efforts and results in that endeavor, but instead it is the opposite. It is about the reasons why I am doing nothing, or very little.
This “doing nothing or very little” is very hard for this impulsive all or nothing Aries. My approach to problems has never been slow and steady. Once I determine a task needs to be done, and I want it bad enough, I jump head first. I go about it in crazed fashion only intent on results and missing everything else. Not this time! This time I am going for non-reaction and non-action. It is often told that we should challenge ourselves and get out of our comfort zone, and this “doing nothing” is definitely uncomfortable to me.
“Understanding is the first step to acceptance, and only with acceptance can there be recovery.” ― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
This is my way of attempting to learn not to react (and overreact) to events and situations. This is accepting instead of fighting it and trying to change it. I will eventually attack the task (making new friends), but the idea here is to have a better, more thoughtful and controlled approach. I am controlling the problem, it is not controlling me.
This time I decided that perhaps I shouldn’t be so quick to try to correct a situation that I deem wrong and unacceptable. This situation, and any uncomfortable situation, presents a big opportunity for contemplation and learning. Perhaps I should spend some time in the moment and in the feeling of being friendless. I should learn to acceptance silence and stillness. I have no friends, but I am surrounded by sound and busyness of my own making: TV, music, internet, books, games, etc. I feel I am always on, not knowing what to do with myself when all else is off.
“For after all, the best thing one can do when it is raining is let it rain.” ― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
I should accept the stillness and silence of the moment. There is a need for friends but there is also value in the lack of it. I am respecting the nature of things and God’s will. There is a reason for this. I will do my part, but I will not be aggressive and thoughtless, not that they are the same thing, but oftentimes that is what happens to me when I engage in something. I am in search of new activities that will lead me to new friends, but not with any urgency. I am moving with the determination of a sloth, and I like it!
Perhaps this moment will yield some much needed creativity that I lack at the moment. Perhaps the lesson here is humility, to realize that there is no shame in being friendless. Being friendless should in no way have a reflection on the quality of my friendship. Perhaps this approach will help me realize the need to take things slow and the need to focus. Sometimes I lack focus, I do it all, and I do it all together. I think I lack respect, respect for the function I am performing at the moment. I am lucky that the result is always positive; things get done, and actually done well. But I question if they are done as well as they should or could if I had really paid attention to each moment and task.
“You couldn’t relive your life, skipping the awful parts, without losing what made it worthwhile. You had to accept it as a whole–like the world, or the person you loved.”
― Stewart O’Nan, The Odds: A Love Story
There is time for Book Clubs, gyms, Meetups etc, but there is only this one moment to feel the emptiness of the moment. I always believed that happiness is an option, and every morning as soon as I open my eyes I choose happiness. But happiness is also learning to be happy in this very moment, not on the moment somewhere in the future when I will have made new friends or in the past where I had friends to do things with. Happiness is right here and right now. I am still looking for friends and activities, but I got rid of the sense of urgency. I am learning to be okay with not having friends. One can say I am basking in the glory of loneliness, I am letting it envelope me, but not to bring me sadness, but to bring me happiness and peace on my own.
I believe I am the master of my destiny so letting things happen is very hard. But I am learning the benefits of letting marinate and flow as they will. I always viewed that inaction and non-reaction as laziness. It is actually the total opposite of laziness; it takes a real effort to let things be. I have been amazed to realize that some things get resolved on their own without my having to do anything about it. What an amazing realization!
“The best way is not to fight it, just go. Don’t be trying all the time to fix things. What you run from only stays with you longer. When you fight something, you only make it stronger.” ― Chuck Palahniuk, Invisible Monsters
Or maybe… just maybe… everything I wrote above is all a bunch of hogwash that I made up to make me feel good about my lack of effort and total lack of results. 🙁