How I did a scary thing and survived

A list of things I really, really dislike would include - in no particular order - the following:

1. People, but especially...

2. Meeting new people

3. Socialising, or indeed...

4. Leaving the house

In a nutshell, my motto could be John Paul Sartre's, "Hell is other people".  So why, I pondered recently, had I foolishly agreed to meet up with some new people?  And not just any people: other bloggers.  Scary, intimidating, I've-admired-your-writing-from-afar bloggers.

Now, I know a lot of people love blogging precisely because you can get involved in a real life community and have meet-ups and go to exciting events and stuff.  The fact is, though, that I really like screens.  I enjoy making friends via Twitter and blog comment threads but I think the wonder of modern technology is that pathologically shy, misanthropic miseries like myself can have human contact without, y'know, coming into actual contact with humans.  So I was slightly baffled to find myself walking into town a few weekends ago to meet The Girl, blogger behind Just Me/Random Day Dreaming (I'm never sure which is it's official title!).  I was, I have to admit, very scared at this prospect.

But you know something?  It wasn't terrible.  In fact, it was rather nice.

We bonded over the book she was reading (one of the Game Of Thrones series), and talked gerbils (hers, not mine), and I enjoyed introducing her to the delights of Leicester (yes, we do have some) and spending some time hanging out and getting to know her.  It was most odd.  Was I actually enjoying meeting a new person?  Yes, yes I was.

And then I only went and did it again.

B from Make, Do & Spend had seen me mention my book group on here and got in touch about coming along.  Fortuitously, the rest of the group were all late to the meeting, so we had a bit of a chance to chat before the arrival of everyone else.  And that was cool too.  It was fun and B was super easy to talk to and again, the whole experience was not terrible.

Maybe I'm getting too over-confident about this whole socialising lark, because then I only went and organised a meet-up with Sarah and Elise in Glasgow.  We've got a while to wait for that one (until April) but as Sarah and I have been talking about meeting for what feels like years, I'm sure we can wait for seven more weeks.

And now Laura from Make Do & Mend is thinking about coming to Leicester for a visit, and you know what?  I'm actually excited!  Most strange.

I'm still most comfortable when I'm sitting behind a screen, conversing via the internet, but I'm starting to realise that perhaps forcing myself out of my comfort zone once in a while and meeting new people - especially people with whom I undeniably have tons in common - may not be a bad thing.  Maybe I'm finally becoming less of a misanthrope....?