answer my phone more often

I still like the turtle mentality. Although rationally, I know it just stresses me out even more to ignore calls I don’t want to deal with. I know if I don’t answer the call, I know there’s going to be a nasty message, so I don’t check the message. Bad cycle

On the other hand, if I do answer the call – yes, it might be an awful call. I might feel guilt and embarrassment or whatever. No matter how appalling the call might be though, at least if I take the call – its done with and the issue is resolved at the end! That’s been my experience over the last 10 months with answering the phone whenever it rings.

Unless its a private number (I feel a moral obligation to refuse those calls – why the hell would I answer a call if you are too embarrassed/ashamed/concerned I wouldn’t answer/etc to show your ID? Even telemarketers in this country are required by law to show their number, so if you can’t do that – I probably am not interested in what you have to say.), I have been very good at just taking the call. I speak to whoever I need to speak to, even if it isn’t 100% convenient and I get the bad stuff over and done with. Most of the time though, its been wonderful because I’ve actually been able to connect with people I do genuinely care about. Sometimes its been about bills and such and that’s all been fine too – much better than my prior avoidance technique.

What I need to do now is start reaching out and actually making calls. Its all very well to sit back and wait for people to contact you. A real friend actually reaches out and contacts others. And that is what my next thing is going to be – to loose the hermit shell and stop expecting people to come to me.

Being in a job where I had to answer between 40 to 70 calls a day, I rarely (if ever) answer my own phone now. After the nonsense and whinging I had to listen to from strangers all day, I really wasn’t interested in hearing anything else from anyone else – even from friends or family. Most people who know me know now that if they want me, they’d better use a text based medium and cross their fingers.

Since I finally kissed that job goodbye on Friday, its time to start becoming a person again. So, except when its impractical, impolite or immoral, I’ll be answering my phone whenever it rings, whoever the caller might be for the next 30 days. I’m hoping by then answering the phone will have become a habit.

My other habit of avoiding people, ie ignoring voicemail is also going to be a thing of the past. On the occasions when it is impractical, impolite or immoral to answer the phone, I will check my voicemails as soon as it is practical. And then, horror of horrors, I will actually call people back.

Since I’m sure most of my friends and family have forgotten what I sound like, this is going to be an interesting month. :)