Respond to calls, emails, and other messages sooner and more frequently (and hell, initiate them more, too)

It happens all the time. My phone rings—I glance over, ignore it, and promise myself I’ll call them back right away. I’m moody like that. Other days I don’t waste time connecting to the world and initiating contact. But the truth is that I want to connect more consistently and stop hiding out all the time. It’s the introver/exrovert struggle within me I think. How annoying! Anyway, it’s good to know that I’m not the only slacker in this department.

I’m getting better at this, but it still takes me days to get around to getting back to people when there is nothing stopping me, other than my fear and laziness, from getting back to them straight away.

I wrote to my friend this week. She is kind of my elementary school/pen pal friend. I’ve known her forever. We started writing to each other when I was 14, two years after I started homeschooling. We used to write several times a month, but it has dwindled to a few times a year now that we are both busy adults.

I miss her, and I don’t want to forget about her. I hope she writes back soon!

I have let too many friendships drift away because I was too busy to write/call/e-mail. I can’t just wait around to be less busy, that won’t happen. I have a very full schedule, but I am going to try to make more time for the people in my life I care about. I don’t want to wind my way through ten years and find out at the end that I have lost out by being too busy.

After all, it takes a lot of work to start a friendship, and it is really tough to re-kindle old relationships once they have drifted away. Things are never the same once you lose touch, so isn’t it worth doing a little extra work now to keep the ties strong? I think so. I think it would be sad if I never talked to my best friend from college, or stopped writing to my bff from elementary, or only heard from my brother at Christmas. Not every friendship is made to last, some fade as quickly as they come into being… but some should be treasured and nourished.

I am going to do better, and I think I will be happier if I succeed.

I haven’t checked my voicemail in two weeks. The screen on my phone is jacked and I can’t see what calls I’ve missed. I can’t read any text messages that I get, so I can’t reply to those, either. I don’t even know who writes.

I wonder if I care at all. The people I care to hear from are far less than the amount of people who do call or text.

D:

At mightnight this morning, I decided to email one of my really old friends that I saw by chance last weekend. I hadn’t seen or talked to him in a long time, even though we had been best friends! He emailed back and we talked for a long time. So I guess I achieved this, especially that “initiate more emails” portion. it was for the better!

i am horrendous about returning calls. i don’t know why. i need to keep in better touch with people.

Not sure that I’m ready to cross this off my list, but I’m getting a little better by at leaast making sure that I answer my emails once a week.

My friends would hate me so much less if I could get better at this!

Still working on it, but much improved with attention.