Do you make friends where you work? I mean friends that truly become friends, even outside of work. You really get to know them personally, their spouse or partner, their families, and maybe even their other friends. These are the people who are real friends both at work and outside of work. It can be great (and beneficial in my opinion) to have friends at work. We spend so much time at our jobs. Having friends at work can help make the day more enjoyable. They can be someone to grab lunch with, to take a work break with, or even to commiserate with.
We all move on from our places of work eventually. And when we do move on, these are people that you stay friends with even after you leave. Maybe long after you leave.
These last few years, the “pandemic years”, have made it tough to keep up with everyone we care about. We became isolated from people, not necessarily by choice. I don’t know if it’s because I’m getting older, or because I’m looking to reconnect with people in response to the pandemic years, or some combination of reasons. But whatever the case, in the last several months I have been thinking a lot about friends that I used to hang with and who I still really care about. I’ve been reaching out to some and making efforts to get together with them in person again.
I did that today, with a “work friend” who I remained friends with after we both moved on from the workplace where we met. In this case I made the reconnection by phone. I realized during the conversation that we have been friends for over 20 years now, since 2002. As I’m sure has happened to many people over these past 3 or so “pandemic years”, we fell out of touch with people we care out.
It would be very hard, maybe impossible, for me to put into words how amazing it was to reconnect with this treasured friend. For the entire call, which lasted about an hour, I could feel my soul smiling. Also, I had a warm, fuzzy feeling as we both shared what’s been going on in our lives – and a LOT has happened in both our lives during this period of temporary disconnection. I hung on to every word and every story she shared.
So I ask, do you have any work friends, or any friends you really care about, that you have become disconnected from? Yea? Hey, why don’t you reach out. You won’t regret it. But you might regret it someday if you don’t. Life is short. People matter. And “connection” with people really matters.
Peace.
jory barrad 