Now, when I started this blog I was clear—at least to myself—that this was not a dating blog. This was not about "a young single gal in New York, woo!" But I cannot deny that relationships and, even more simply, the way in which we communicate and relate to one another has a bearing on living an A+ life.
As Aziz said, "It's like I'm this secretary for this shoddy organization, planning the dumbest shit, for the flakiest people ever." When I posted this link on Facebook, so many people liked it—which I take to mean that they have experienced this very situation and that they, too, are frustrated by it. The thing is, we are complicit in this behavior. We allow people to treat us this way. And we, too, start to play along. This doesn't just apply to dating and navigating single life. I'm talking about friendships, too.
For some reason, we have become a culture that values detachment. It's better not to care. But why? Why do we want to be friends with or go out with someone who doesn't care about us?
My challenge to you is to instigate change. Start caring. Start telling people that you care. Make plans! Don't be afraid of committing to an activity. Then, keep those plans as best you can. Of course, things come up. I'm not saying life is perfect, but err on the side of planning and doing and going. Call a friend instead of texting them once in a while. Hear the tone and emotion in their voice. Choose to connect with people instead of constantly zapping meaningless notes between devices. I'm not in denial of technology. Texting is useful, but I think our reliance on it is not.
In the words of Jane Fonda (watch the 2-minute video here to better yourself), we need to learn to be emotionally literate again. Basically: we need to grant ourselves permission to feel.
