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Work-Life Balance Tip 17 - Put Friends Back into Your Life (Part One)

Guest post by: Sheryl Nicholson

Article Overview: Remember when you had friends? OK write the names of three friends down on a piece of paper.....oh....did I mention they can't be people that you work with? Why not? It's OK to enjoy their company but we need to get a life...balanced outside of work. And when was the last time you spent time with any of your friends? When I did this exercise I realized how isolated I had become. With travel and work, school and sports events, one day lead to another. I had talked with but hadn't seen some of my dear friends in over a year! Why don't we spend more time with friends? Most of us see entertainment as an expense of both money and work. Sure, if I invite people over to my home, it means I've gotta clean. And oh, that carpet it dirty, I'll need to have that shampooed first. The wallpaper is peeling and the walls need paint. One week delay t

Work-Life Balance Tip 17 - Put Friends Back into Your Life (Part One)

Remember when you had friends? OK write the names of three friends down on a piece of paper.....oh....did I mention they can't be people that you work with? Why not? It's OK to enjoy their company but we need to get a life...balanced outside of work. And when was the last time you spent time with any of your friends? When I did this exercise I realized how isolated I had become. With travel and work, school and sports events, one day lead to another. I had talked with but hadn't seen some of my dear friends in over a year!

Why don't we spend more time with friends? Most of us see entertainment as an expense of both money and work. Sure, if I invite people over to my home, it means I've gotta clean. And oh, that carpet it dirty, I'll need to have that shampooed first. The wallpaper is peeling and the walls need paint. One week delay turns into one month and before we know it, it's been a year since we've spent time with the people we really enjoy.

There's the money issue too. It's expensive inviting people over...even if the house is ready for company. You've got to buy food and drink. Even something as simple as a picnic of hot dogs and baked beans can cost quite a bit of money when you add all the paper goods. Then we're back to the "work" issue again because we've got to cleanup the mess.

And isn't it funny how we divide up our friends? We have church friends that can't possible relate to our football friends, who wouldn't get along with our business friends, and so on and so on. Isn't that crazy? I've found people are people and every one realizes we have a need to "get a grip" and re-connect to others.

So here are some real life solutions to include friends back into our lives. You'll probably want to take some pictures of your events to validate they really happened when you find yourself back into an isolated rut again.

Progressive Dinners.

My friend Diane has been friend with 4 other couples for years. What they do is once a month each couple picks a part of the meal they want to sponsor. They start at one home for appetizers, and then move to another's for the meal, and a third for dessert and coffee. One family is off "scott free" each month. Then rotate this opportunity and it has bee working well for years. She said if she didn't mark this down on her calendar, chances are it would be months before they saw each other. Surprisingly they a lot must value the friendship because they have rarely had to cancel or move the date in four years. Now that a committed group of friends wouldn't you say?

Bagel and Cartoon Saturdays.

One woman told me that she and her friends have small children that love Saturday morning cartoons. So while the husbands remain in the house, these women meet at a designated friend's house for bagels and coffee. They often sit out in the sun, in peace, and giggle like high schoolers. She told me it's a real energy boost with time to "let their hair down and be real". It only lasts 2 hours and they are ready to re-connect with their wonderful husband and children when they return.

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Article Tags: friends, life balance, sheryl nicholson, worklife balance



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