YEAR OF HAPPINESS // July Resolutions

I don’t want to toot my own horn, but I crushed July’s resolution. This month was focused on FRIENDSHIP and making time for friends. I not only made times for friends, but I even made some new ones! Below were the three ways I chose to focus on my resolution this month.

FaceTime at least one friend a week

This one was a fun one. I love chatting with friends over FaceTime and had some really great conversations during July. I would spend 1-2 hours just talking and it was great to catch up because a lot of my friends have new and exciting things happening in their lives. Living away from them all in California, I didn’t want to miss out on their lives. FaceTiming allowed me to keep up with them and share in all of their growth and next steps!

Write letters to friends

This was an activity I started at the beginning of COVID, when quarantining started. I was desperate to maintain some semblance of a connection with people and I started writing letters and cards to friends. So this was an easy resolution for me to meet.

There’s something satisfying about writing out a little hello to somebody. And let’s be honest, who doesn’t love receiving a handwritten note in the mail?

Put myself in situations meet new people

This was probably the part of July I was most nervous about. I don’t particularly love putting myself out there and I’m sure many people can agree that making new friends as an adult can be hard. Small talk is not my favorite, I second-guess a lot of what I say around new people, and I tend to get self-conscious in unfamiliar environments.

Luckily for me, there was a No More Lonely Friends meet-up planned for July in LA. No More Lonely Friends was started by a woman named Marissa who went viral on TikTok earlier this year. A man had posted a TikTok addressing Marissa, saying he didn’t know her but had overheard a group of her friends saying mean things about her and overall being pretty shady friends. He put it in the hands of the internet and lo and behold, said Marissa was found. She took this lemon-esque situation - finding out, publicly, that people she thought were her friends were talking behind her back - and made lemonade. She started hosting meet-ups and created an Instagram account, @nomorelonelyfriends, as a way to connect to people. One meet-up turned into two, into three, into four, and now Marissa has hosted meet-ups in New York, D.C., Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and LA. I happened upon some of the original TikTok videos awhile ago, so I was familiar with Marissa’s story and the good that she was creating from it. When I found out about the LA meet-up, I decided to overcome my nervousness and go.

So Andrew and I drove up from San Diego on a Saturday morning and spent the day at Griffith Park at the meet-up. We mingled and met so many cool, new people. There was food, drinks, games, and so much openness from those who showed up. The whole atmosphere was reassuring, as this was a stress free and safe place to meet people. I met a lot of people who were new to LA or California and were looking for a way to meet people in their area. There were probably 150-200 people who showed up throughout the day and Marissa made sure to meet and hug each one of them. It was a wonderful experience and one that I’m happy I participated in.

If a No More Lonely Friends meet-up happens in your city in the future, I highly recommend going. Shake off the nerves and mingle with friendly people. You’ll build some new connections and friendships. And if not, at least you put yourself out there and have a good story to tell.

August’s resolution is focused on striving for more at work.