Howdy! I struggle with anxiety, both social and the usual sort. At home, it's generally just my husband and I, the dogs, and outside of errands and the dog park, I am a homebody. My family, and the majority of my friends, live states away. All this to say I rarely talk to non-husband people, let alone many at once.
For the holiday season, I have many outings back to back, and each of them are crowded. These are all people I know and love, so I'm excited to see them, but I'm also nervous, being very out of practice, socially. There feels like a lot riding on the season because I generally only visit annually, living very far away, so the impression I leave will last for ages. Any weight gain, perceptible negativity, politics, etc, are me until next time. And wanting to be liked means sugarcoating what few opinions I mistakenly share. Because that's always the problem. I've got too many opinions and I do not keep them to myself.
I imagine this isn't unique to me. Lots of people travel home for the holidays, and it's sadly very normal now, for folks to move away from home, then take years to properly settle in and make friends, all while working from home and therefore rarely socializing. I'm all for work-from-home, in that it cuts out expensive and time-consuming commutes, but the drawback is that we aren't making local friends at work, so we have to find social opportunities elsewhere and many simply don't.
It's still great seeing everybody and catching up on a year's worth of happenings and gossip. I think if I lived closer so that I saw my family every few months or so, there would be less pressure around the holidays. I plan to move eventually, but these things take time.
Anywho, I drop a new blog post every Monday. I hope you've enjoyed your holiday season! Toodles!