Annie, in honor of your "It's all about the people!" entry, I spent all day yesterday with people. As a result I didn't blog quite when I was supposed to. But I figured you wouldn't mind since I was with people...
I'm with Annie 100%. It doesn't matter where you or what you're doing as long as you're with people. What I wonder about sometimes is, "Does it matter who you're with?"
If you're not aware, I enjoy spending time with groups of people and am often the one coordinating and organizing group functions. I enjoy doing this and try hard to make sure everyone feels welcome and is included. In fact, I would usually rather invite everyone to everything than to only invite a select few and leave some people out. As I've gotten older, I've learned that inviting everyone to everything is just unrealistic and overwhelming.
So if you can't spend time with everyone, how do you choose who to spend time with? It's hard enough to prioritize people over school, work, exercise, errands and all the other things we have to do. How do you effectively prioritize who should get what little free time you have left after all that? I think most people would say to me, "Tristinn, that's a silly question. Spend time with the people you like and care about. Spend time with the people who make an effort to be in your life." Those people would be right of course. You should spend time with people who make you feel good about life, who are willing to put forth as much energy as you are into a relationship. But is this the only measure we should use when we're deciding how to use our time?
My gut tells me that can't be everything. I truly believe in giving back to your immediate community in some tangible way and since time is the most precious commodity I have, it makes sense that I would give up some of that time. Sometimes, you spend time with people not because you like them or because they make you feel happy about life, you spend time with them because they need it. They need the advice support, fun and love that you can give through time.
Am I saying you should spend significant time every week with people who make you miserable? No! I'm saying that we should think about our time and fellowship with people as one of the greatest gifts we wield. We can give infinite blessings or do infinite damage with the way we choose to divvy out our time to people.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Your time with people is a gift. Spend it wisely.
Hey Tris. You say you'd like to invite everyone to everything if you could. But have you ever spent time to intentionally cultivate a guest list for an event based on the dynamics of the activity and balance the group to optimize the overall enjoyment? Sometimes I think it is worth intentionally being selective so that the right group of people come together at the right moments in the right enviroments that will increase enjoyment and growth for those involved.
ReplyDeleteAnya, I agree. I'm just not very good at it! As I get older, I'm much more inclined to spending time in small groups that work well together.
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