Making my schedule is something that has become a part of my ritual on Sunday evenings. I spend an hour or so flipping through pages of my planner, reading over syllabi that have millions of marks and highlights, and scrolling through my email making sure I write in everything I have to do. Sundays are my favorite days.
Since I can remember I have shuffled from school, Girl Scout meetings, dance lessons, swim practices, and whatever else I managed to get myself involved in. I loved being a part of a million different things and meeting a million different people. It has always been a part of who I am, but not everyone could understand my lifestyle.
The one thing I started to have to deal with most often with my crazy schedule wasn't trying to fit in times to eat or sleep, but dealing with the friends who didn't understand my love for being everywhere.
Now, don't get me wrong. I love my friends. No matter if they are band kids, my ADPi sisters, my friends from home, or the friends I have made within the Communications department here at Wake. But there are always a few who take my busy schedule to heart and personally. I may not be there for these friends as much as they think I should, or I may spend "more time" with some and not the others.
The one thing people don't seem to understand about being a "Social Butterfly" is that it is a choice which requires devotion to many people and things. I have had friends ask me "Why haven't we hung out in so long?" or "If you don't want to be my friend anymore, why don't you just tell me?"
Being involved in many things on campus doesn't mean that I dislike one group more than another. It means that I, as a person, have a million different passions and likes that I want to explore. Me "blowing you off for band kids" is actually me going to a meeting about upcoming marching band seasons. Me "spending time with my sisters" is when I go to chapters, do off-campus service work, or have a meeting about what the future holds for the chapter.
More often than not, I spend time with a different group of people every day. And if by some miracle I don't have somewhere to be, I can be found in my bed watching Netflix or sleeping like a "normal" college student.
Being a "Social Butterfly" is something that people, especially your friends, should embrace about you. If you are bouncing from group to group, your friends should understand no matter where they might be "placed" on your planner that day.
The purpose of this confession is not to shame those who don't understand the life of Social Butterflies or to passive-aggressively call out on my own friends who do this. The purpose of this is to enlighten and connect with those who may feel this way too. It is possible to be in a world where you live for others 99.99999 percent of the time, that no one will ever try to understand you.
