This month, I was invited by 3 different neighbors to join them at social events. Two were to church-related and the third was to a wine tasting neighborhood gathering. I was quite flattered that my neighbors thought about me and extended the invitations. It made me feel warm inside to know they wanted me to join them.
Of course, I declined all three events.
At the church related socials, I imagine I would meet many people whom I would like. If they are anything like my neighbors, they would be friendly, kind and solid people who weren’t the least bit preachy. Still, I just cannot envision myself joining a church function given my hard core atheistic principles. When people talk about Jesus, God or prayer, I tend to quickly tune out.
As for the wine tasting party, since I haven’t drank alcohol in almost 20 years, I have no intention of starting now. I know I could go, drink water, and mingle but the thought of doing that in a roomful of strangers wipes me out. I’d be counting the seconds until I could make a graceful exit and return to home to my dogs. My introverted tendencies have deepened as I’ve gotten older. Now that I don’t have to attend social events for work or family, I turn down nearly all of them.
I prefer my socializing 1 on 1, in limited doses.
What’s funny is that I’m still glad to be invited – even though I’ll likely never attend. It’s nice to know that even though I think of myself as a weirdo, others still like me enough to want me to be around.