Simplifying Your Social Life

Posted on March 18, 2011 by
Categories: Simplification

This is a guest post by Mariana Ashley. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guest post guidelines.

Photo by wildxplorer

For some of us, keeping up with a social calendar seems more like a chore than a preferable pastime. If you sometimes feel forced to keep up with friends and family, there are things you can do to simplify your social life. If you are more of an introvert, it can beneficial for your mental health to meet others after a long day of work. However, by organizing your free time, you can learn to maintain a healthy but convenient social life. You can find a balance between being an unhealthy introvert and an extreme social butterfly. Follow these tips to help boost your emotional and mental health.

Say No When You Have To

We are all guilty of making social commitments we don’t really want to abide by. If there is someone you don’t enjoy spending time with, don’t plan to meet them on a regular basis. Sometimes, you have to worry about yourself first! Life is too short to consistently bog yourself down with unnecessary meetings and events. If you take the extraneous events out of your calendar, you will have more time to meet people you enjoy seeing and talking to.

If You’ve Been Saying No Too Often Say Yes

There is a fine line between enjoying time to yourself and completely rejecting the outside world. Perhaps you have a really stressful job. When you come home, the last thing you want to do is plan a date or outing with a colleague. However, there have been numerous studies that explain a social life is a key component in preventing depression or other mental illnesses. In fact, this Times of India article explains that maintaining social groups leads to overall health benefits.

Group Your Social Events Together

If you enjoy time to yourself, but you feel guilty turning down plans with family and friends, try to group events together. Perhaps it would be a good idea to host events where you can get your family and friends in one setting. Or at least introduce different groups of friends to one another. That way you won’t be at risk for making unmanageable social commitments. If you introduce different groups of friends to one another, you may be able to spend time with both of them at the same time. If spending all weekend out on the town doesn’t appeal to you, you can spend one night of the weekend on your own and one night with friends. You’ll be hitting two birds with one stone!

Incorporate Social Activities into Your Everyday Life

If you don’t enjoy going out to crowded bars/social outings with your friends on the weekends, try to make your everyday life more socially oriented. For example, if you enjoy working out, try to run or walk with some of your friends on a daily basis. If you like going to the gym, ask some friends to join you a few times a week. Also, if you decide to cook at home, invite a family or friend over to spend some time with you. This can be beneficial for your mental and emotional health. Although it can be easier to be alone, everyone needs to vent about their day every once in a while.

Mariana Ashley is a freelance writer who particularly enjoys writing about online colleges.

Photo by wildxplorer

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Comments (1)

 

  1. Rachel says:
    March 18, 2011 at 8:42 am

    Spoken like a true introvert. It can be tough to balance the need for socialization with the need for down time. I’ve found that the amount of sleep I get definitely affects how social I am. If I’m tired, getting out of the house to socialize can feel overwhelming.