As an adult, your life grows much more insular and you generally don’t get many opportunities to meet new people. The last big period of my life meeting new people was during my DJ days. I connected with so many people through a shared passion for the music and the scene.
But that period ended, and everyone went on their own ways. As I worked on new things, I would connect with people that were doing the same thing, and some friendships developed, but because it was that work that we shared, when that ended often the connections ended. I’m sure the same would be true for any sort of office culture.
Outside of work related stuff, there isn’t many opportunities for adults to connect. It just doesn’t come as easy when you were younger.
That changed for me once I got into a new hobby. I had a lifelong dream of one day owning a pinball machine. When we moved into our first house, there was room in the basement to get one. So I did.
It was very cool and I loved it, but the really exciting thing was I began to connect with other pinball owners. Before long, I was getting invited to new people’s homes, just to play pinball together.
Then that led me to a local pinball league, that played every Monday. Now I was around dozens of people every week with a shared interest, and also getting to see all kinds of great collections.
Before I realized it, I was making all sorts of new friends, more than I had in 10+ years since I stopped DJing. Better yet, these new friends weren’t tied to work or a business I was involved with, they were outside that world.
Now I realize how important it is to have a hobby and connect with people that don’t have anything to do with work related stuff. Just pure friends that you have shared interests with.
I’m grateful for finding this new outlet.
