From a Get-Together to Not Forever

After a night at the movies, I didn’t have much sleep before work. Having a lot of alarms forces me to get up and leave on time. That being said, I’m starting to think that my curfew for work is necessary for my optimal health.

My friend and company decide to have a get-together since the weather is nice out. I had agreed earlier to see them after work. After work, I head home first because I wanted to charge my phone, but at the same time, I wanted to watch this podcast I was so heavily invested in.

It talks about a show I grew up with and the social commonalities between the people involved. I thought at first that I might find something attractive to gravitate to, but it feels like because I met someone whose job and potential career is on the show, I might have created some sort of “friendship” with this person. Granted, we’re still strangers, but with that simple interaction, I like to think that I’m one step ahead of the strangers who haven't had a conversation with him face-to-face. That being said, with how the world is in the current society, everyone meets new people via the internet

After waiting for a while in my room, I leave to head to my friend's house somewhere southwest of Brooklyn. Not realizing how inconvenient transit is at the time, I find myself fighting to discover easy access to travel to see my friend. It had occurred to me that an Uber or Lyft would work wonders, but I wanted to save the money for when it counted and was necessary. After a long 2+ hour transit, I reach my friend's house. Tired and hot, I want to lock myself in an ice box as soon as I enter the apartment. I greet my friends and quickly catch up on their lives in order to start the adventure. After casual banter, we simply prepare a bag full of healthy goodies and made our way to the car.

We get in a car after our brief catch-up and head to the park for some games. I was unaware that we would be playing sports because there was a bag of fruits and a brief discussion about board games. I’m very much excited about sports because I haven’t been active in sports for quite some time, and sports are a great way to be active. We play some badminton, which was quite fun because it was a sport I’ve been involved since primary school. After some competitive back-and-forth, it is time for volleyball. Now I was also involved in this sport in primary school, but I usually got too competitive with this sport due to being a selfish player.

I work up a sweat and tire myself out from the sports, and then we head out to get some food. Now at this point, I’m supposed to have an idea of what I’m supposed to eat because of my condition, but I treat today like a cheat day because I am with friends. That was a mistake. So we get some Greek food and I’m thinking that I shouldn’t be eating this. At this moment I feel out of place, as if I had moved on from what was to something more. Although I hadn’t noticed what it was back then, I was in need of a new perspective, someone to challenge the mundane way of thinking, a diverse group of people that educate and motivate each other to be the best version of themselves. I have limited myself to be the best version of myself in order to benefit others and allow them to grow. As the sun begins to set, we head back to play some card games.

Towards the end of the night, after a healthy debate on which rules apply to the game of UNO, we finish the game and end the night with a table read. Throughout this weekend, there’s a struggle between what I want and what is needed to be successful. Now of course, I can just get up and do what is needed, but it’s never that easy because if it was, things would be less complicated. Either way, spending time with friends helps bring new perspectives and motivates you to be better, and it pushes you to develop success. Through trust and motivation, we can push ourselves to be better when we are not at our best. Our future selves deserve to be successful, because in those moments, we need to care for the future versions of ourselves.