>One week and one year ago, I went to my first social media type mixer. It was there that I met fellow local bloggers for the first time. Normally, I wouldn’t have left my comfort zone, but my heart had recently been broken, so I wasn’t thinking rationally. It wasn’t so much a “I’ll show him. I’ll become successful.” It was more like, “Why the hell not? I need a change of pace.”
In mid May last year, I received an invite to join Sacramento Connect. I was incredulous. Where did it come from? Who recommended my blog? Would the locals get my humor? Would I have to stop fucking cussing? Not that I do that much, but I do enjoy the occasional swear word now and again. Flattery gets you everywhere with me, so when I was told by someone at the Bee that my blog was entertaining & funny, I decided to throw caution to the wind and join up.
This first step lead me to go to tweetups and other social media mixers. It was at these casual gatherings that I really started coming out of my shell. Instead of sitting at home lamenting over the fact that I no longer had any friends available to be social due to the constraints of child-rearing, I went out on my own and found new friends.
After a certain age, making new friends is more difficult than finding a date. They don’t have websites dedicated to finding people to go grab a drink with and talk about makeup, movies and men. You have to have a hobby or religion for that. My hobby is otherwise pretty solitary.
I have met some really great people (in real life) through the use of this modern technology. It has bolstered my self-esteem and probably made me a more interesting person.
What’s really funny is that if I hadn’t had my heart broken, I never would have taken a risk and gone to that first Sacramento Connect mixer. I never would have joined the News10.net MyNeighborhood site. I never would have met any of the folks with whom I have shared a happy hour or two. My world would still be small and depressing.