I had a close friend of mine ask me today if it was exhausting to have so many friends. After thinking about it for a second, I decided, yes, it can be. But I love that I have so many friends. And I love making new friends. I love learning about people and how we are similar and different. I love building friendships on new things and finding out more about them as we spend more time together. I love gatherings with them and one on one conversations.
But yes, it can be exhausting. I am a planner and a definite extrovert. I love being around people and coordinating gatherings (albeit frustrating at times). But the thought of people gathering and hanging out together makes me so happy. I don’t care what we are doing, I just like being around people.
Along with having lots of friends, I feel like I have a lot of different kinds of friends. Ones you have been friends with for a very long time, those that are new, those from certain groups where you hang out together, friends where your children are friends….and on and on. And each of these friendships bring something else to my life. I love all of those relationships for different reasons and for teaching me different things about myself and about others. Because friendship is a million little things.
I do my best to get together with as many friends as possible as often as I can. It’s one of the reasons I love my book club so much. It’s a guaranteed time to see some of my close friends when life gets busy and that is the only time we can make work. And I don’t mind scheduling events for us (even if I get frustrated trying to make something work). I still love it and enjoy it when it happens.
I think the most exhausting thing for me is when my friendship isn’t reciprocated. I am an all-in friend. You’ll know more about me in the first hour of meeting me than you will probably want to know. I am an open book and a big sharer. But I wonder if I scare people off at times from that. When in reality, people are just not as obnoxious as I am. I have been told I can be a lot to handle at times. And in my older age, I have realized that you are either going to love that about me or not. And I am finally ok with that. I am not offended when people can’t or don’t want to hang out like I used to be.
Having a lot of friends can be exhausting at times, but I wouldn’t change it. I have just learned to make it work for me and my friends and I must say, you are all worth it.
