While there is nothing wrong whatsoever with being an introvert, I never want to revert back to my old high school habits. The consecutive nights staying in and not socializing really added up after a while and made me feel so lonely. So I decided it was a "go hard or go home" situation when it came to socializing. I went from spending nights endlessly falling down the YouTube rabbit hole to only being alone during the hours I slept. Of course, that life wore down on me pretty quickly, too. No one really wants to be around people that much. Now I have gained the happiest of happy mediums being what I like to call a "social wolf," not quite a social butterfly, but not quite a lone wolf. So why is it the best way to live?
1. No one knows what you're doing
Granted, being a middle child semi-contributes to my invisibility — it comes with the birth order, no matter how much parents deny it. I typically spend my daytime hours going places around town without telling anyone. I'll leave mid morning and some days don't come home until 4 a.m. So what am I doing during those hours? Depends on the day: sometimes I shop, sometimes I go for a walk, sometimes see a movie (but I only see movies alone anyways), sometimes I just stay home. Once it gets closer to the evening and night hours, though, nine-out-of-10 times I'm out with friends.
2. Friends never know when you're gonna show up
I live for spontaneous hangouts, but when there's a planned time to chill with people, there's a general rule that I'm gonna show up about 30 minutes late (not guaranteed). I have this thing where I never tell people when I'm on my way to hang, so when I show up unexpectedly (usually when they aren't ready at all), I enjoy knowing their immediate reaction when I knock on the door is this:
(p.s. this habit isn't going to change, I exist to annoy you guys).
3. There is never a dull moment
Being a "social wolf" allows you to have extreme independence without the repercussions of being lonely. Some days, I see no one and enjoy my own company. But sometimes, I see several of my friends in the same day. Of course, there are some people I see way more often than others, but that doesn't make my time with them any less valuable. I think there must be some messed up trickster playing games in my life, because I find no matter where I go/who I'm with, some crazy adventure always happens, and I mean straight up crazy. Sometimes, I reflect on my experiences and forget that they were actual events that I (somehow) lived through. But hey, at least I'm entertained!
4. Incognito mode is your life
All my life I have been an avid texter, phone constantly pinging, thumbs flying across the screen. May of this year marks when that lifestyle ended for me. It's considered lucky if you get a text back from me. I never ignore texts, I always see them, it's just I either cannot be bothered with a response that I know will lead into a texting conversation, or I look at the text and forget to respond. I am a frequent snapchat "open but doesn't respond" user, I post/like things on social media once in a while (excluding my fire snap stories), and I will admit that trash app known as "Vine" has taken over my life. It's an ironic love, okay? If someone wants to have a convo, they know to call me or ask to hang out because not only is it exponentially easier, it also means I get to spend time with people and have fun!
5. So. Many. New. Faces.
Once you become a regular at a place (Caffeine Dreams, you beautiful bastard), not only does the staff know your order/everything about you and your dogs, but you start to know the other regulars at that place. And then there's people you meet through them, and then there's people you meet through your friends, and their friends, and at parties, and randomly on the street, and you start recognizing those people, and they introduce you to their friends, and it's a social train that has no destination, it just keeps going and going and going – like this sentence. The web of people you know is constantly spinning into a larger and larger net.
6. Your best friends are still your best friends
If you have best friends as close and cool as I do, then you understand that they are the only people you can tolerate being around for several hours in the day for days on end. While reconnecting with people you might not have talked to in years is so lit, you always go back to the same people, and it's never hard to pick up exactly where you left off. They get frustrated with your tendencies of not answering messages for hours and just generally annoying the crap out of them with your devious charm and stunning looks, but they wouldn't have it any other way. And neither would you.
So go out and have some fun! Even if you think there is nothing fun to do by yourself, trust me when I say adventure will always find you.
