The friends you haven’t met yet!

Rebecca’s recent blog about confidence made me smile because I recognised something of myself in it, but bear with me – this is not a repeat of that theme, just a tangent that starts from the same root.

A couple of years back I started Parkrunning -with the same sense of trepidation that Becs felt. I loved it and through Parkrun I met a lovely lady who ‘added me’ to a local running group on Facebook that her friend had started so that I could join likeminded people for social runs. I didn’t do anything for two months after joining this group because I didn’t know these people and I was a little scared that everyone would be faster than me and I would be instantly unpopular by slowing the group down.

How wrong I was!

On 1st May I met Nicola in a car park, in a forest, to go for a run. I didn’t know Nicola and she didn’t know me – it was all a bit “I’ll be wearing a pink carnation” or rather, driving a blue polo! But she was running, and I was running, and I was also running out of excuses not to give it a go! There were a couple of other ladies along as well and we had a super run, chatted about our days at work, the weather, things that annoyed us, all sorts of things. There was none of the opening small talk people employ at dinner parties or bars, just an unspoken assumption that we were all already friends by virtue of being there so we cut straight to the “natter”. It was a brilliant starting point from which many fabulous friendships have blossomed and many more amazing common interests have emerged and been indulged.

Meeting people through common interest or activity is an enriching experience. It may be that we are less anxious about having nothing to talk about, or sufficiently focussed on the common activity that we do not overly concern ourselves with social inhibitions. Whatever the reason, through shared activity, I have met people from entirely different backgrounds and professions that I may never have come across in my day to day life. Not everyone you meet will end up being your best friend but I truly can’t say I have met anyone through this path that I found genuinely disagreeable.
 
Of course, there are safeguarding issues to be considered around the subject of meeting complete strangers and the group I joined is comprised of friends and friends-of-friends so there is a certain amount of vetting involved. Caution and common sense are advisable but (and excuse the cliché) there is a strong chance that the strangers you are wary of meeting are the friends you just hadn’t met.  If you have a local sports or community group that interests you, take the plunge – it could be the best thing you ever do!