Quite a weekend hanging with high school friends at JB & Brenna's wedding weekend. Rehearsal dinner on Friday, wedding stuff all day from 10 am - 11 pm on Saturday and then brunch on Sunday. Going back and talking to them after a couple of years was fun but also noticed that I can be more perceptive of my energy when I'm with different people.
For example, on Friday, the most engaging convo I had was with Marisa. I felt that was the only real time during that day that I had an involvement in the chat that I'd normally look for in my social circles now. Might have just been my inquisitiveness with what she's doing but it was a refresher honestly. It's not that I didn't have fun convos with others, it just wasn't' as engaging. They were more surface-level.
On Saturday, 2 examples. The first with Nalin who I hadn't seen or spoken with in 7 years of our high school graduation. But he's doing well and has also transitioned over into the field of marketing recently. While everyone else was in their own circle, Nalin and I had gotten into a good 30-40 min chat by ourselves. Mostly about our careers and the industries but much more than just surface level. His conversational style is more to relate what I said with his life. There's nothing wrong with that at all. I think I just personally value asking questions a bit more.
After that cocktail hour I had a convo with Sean and Sabel, who were attending from Kentucky. Had a solid 30-45 min convo with them while eating dinner. It was especially energizing as I learned they're both middle school teachers. Perfect as I took the opportunity to learn more about their experiences as teachers in the public school system.
Then Sunday, during brunch, I had another solid convo with Brad, Cory's brother. He's been in the marketing field for many years now and I gained insight into how he got to where he is, what he does, his mindset and thoughts on marketing in general, etc.
So as a recap to the weekend, I think I learned I can hold a convo with anyone, be it a 25 year old woman or a 45 year old man on a variety of topics. I think what's important is the curiosity from both sides and the setting. I'm not able to get into as deep a convo when there's only 1 convo / 5 or so people. However, when you have 7-8 people, you allow multiple of them to break off. That's what allowed me to have convo with Marisa, Sean and Brad.
Bringing this to what Vishnu imparted on me for social gatherings, I'll want to eventually host or organize nights where I bring people together. But it has to be in an environment that's conducive to deep convos. That means the ability to naturally break off into groups of 2-3. That way people are more engaged in the convo. So setting up physical areas for people to do that is key. LOL also side note here that if / when I have my wedding, I'd maybe want to do something similar to allow meaningful convos among people who want to have them.
I'm ready to get back to CLT, albeit for only 1 full day as I'll be packing for my NY / NJ trip Tuesday night itself. Super hype for RUTBAB. Looking forward to being ore open and sharing the bhajans on IG - no private stories!
Comments