Post by starburst604 on Feb 4, 2024 13:03:52 GMT -5
I’m not involved in anything organized at the moment but have considered joining the Junior Women’s Club in our town. Now that I’m facing potential divorce and being a single mom, I’d like to get to know some local women outside of “our” friend circle. I don’t have many friends here whose H’s aren’t also my H’s friend.
I’m seriously impressed that some of you find time for all of this! I only have one kid, and between work and his activities, I feel like I’m at capacity.
Granted, I only have 1 young child and she’s only in 1 activity but the things I’m involved in are for me time which is essential for me to relax, decompress, etc. Sometimes I do work 6 days a week but thankfully most weeks I work 4 days a week and she’s in daycare 5 days a week so that makes a difference. At least half a day on the weekends most of the time I really treasure getting out the house doing something for me. I def recognize the privilege in being able to do that!
I volunteer at the Broadway theater in the city, though I have never really met any people beyond some small talk here and there.
I also volunteer with a local professional group to plan PD opportunities. I've made a couple of friends there.
I would really like to find a book club or some other kind of volunteer sort of thing to get to know some people in the town where I live. Also a local trivia group my H and I could join since we enjoy trivia but 2 hours of driving in a weeknight to join friends in the actual city is too hard. But haven't found the right thing yet.
I do a weekly script reading with a group out of LA. I am in an improv troupe. I started that by just taking a class, which I highly encourage, because they are ridiculously fun. I’m not sure if stand-up can be considered a club, but it takes up several nights a month.
My H is in a band, which performs and rehearses sporadically, but he does a weekly music jam. He also has what I call play dates with a few other retirees from our former workplace. He goes to those about twice a month.
We just joined the neighborhood association, which, for us will only mean that we work at festivals this summer. We could do more with that association, but we do not want to.
Mine aren't really clubs, but lately I've been trying to get out more and do things around my interests. -joined a bootcamp class and plan to go weekly. It's super social and friendly so that makes it fun. I don't really even like bootcamp style classes that much haha (but I do like working out with people) -trying out a couple of book clubs. I've never actually been in a book club so no idea if this is for me, but I enjoy reading so looking forward to the first one -Yoga classes -I've joined some women's Meetup and Facebook groups in my area that just go to lunch and coffees and stuff like that
If I had more time, I'd join my local friends of library group and friends of my local park. I also follow a women's hiking group that is always posting events that look really fun, I just don't have the availability to be out that long. Someday, though!
I'm president of my library's Friends group, I'm a member/facilitator of a book club, and I'm part of a writing group.
The Friends varies on how much time it takes. My board is really good, and except for VP, my job is actually the easiest.
The book club is also through the library, and around the start of the pandemic is when they decided we had to have facilitators. I don't actually do anything except fill out a very short form after we meet. Our leader, who's been doing this for over 25 years coordinates everything else.
And my writing group meets very sporadically, because half the time everyone forgets it's meeting day. But I enjoy (most of) the people and I've gotten to read/edit some interesting stories.
Post by oregonpachey on Feb 4, 2024 14:07:33 GMT -5
My husband and I are both 4H leaders and we run a club of about 12 kids. We focus mainly on archery, photograph, food and nutrition. I am also the county superintendent for fiber arts. That means fair week is massively busy with setup, display and judging. I teach a couple of classes throughout the year for fiber arts.
I'm an Audobon member and participate in bird hikes a couple of times a year. I also take classes.
I have a weekly knit group with a bunch of ladies. I call it my therapy.
I used to be on our city's Heritage and Landmark Commission but several of us resigned a few months ago.
None at this point in life as I’m fully booked between work and kid commitments. So I’m involved in their schools and sports and don’t have capacity for anything else and am okay with it at this stage.
Post by followyourarrow on Feb 4, 2024 14:47:06 GMT -5
Nothing right now. New job, new house, wedding planning and school have all kicked my butt. I've been thinking about getting back into something though, the job and house stuff have settled down. School will be over in a year.
I'd love to join a Mardi Gras Krewe and hope to after school is done.
I went to concert last night at an old opera house that has been restored. I love the building and thought about reaching out to them to see if they need volunteers.
I used to volunteer with archery, but that's not very available where I am.
I'm a member of our local women's symphony league, the president of our national charity league chapter, and on a committee at another nonprofit. I'm painfully introverted, so joining organizations where I have a job is the only way to get me out of the house and socialize.
I’m Treasurer for my regional chapter of a scouting org I am part of. It’s related to my child only in that he joined recently but I’ve been a member for 31 years so it’s not all about him. I also run a troop (my kid is in it—unfortunately lol—they were low on volunteers).
Garden club aka the vine and wine club. I was president for a couple of years and then on the board. I sat out the first half of this season because I needed a break, but plan to attend again in the spring. We meet 9 months out of the year.
Volunteer at an organization that provides diapers, formulas, car seats, clothes, etc for families with babies. I'm usually there once a week to sort donations, stock shelves, and fill client orders. I've done this since 2017.
Post by definitelyO on Feb 4, 2024 22:36:25 GMT -5
I'm active in a local chapter for my profession. I was on the Board of Directors for 14 years and am a past president - now am chair for community service and support our communication committee.. I'm also the chair of this organization's awards committee at the National level.
I'm also Vice-Chair for our state's chapter for the Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation.
other official organizations are related to PTSA (for just a few more months - YAY)
No kids so we get to spend most of our weekends doing sports for us, LOL. We're both avid volleyball players and have found a weekly pickup group that we love and have made some amazing friends through. Finding this group has been a big win for us because it's kind of like a combo of date night, socializing, and exercise all rolled into one!
These responses give me a lot of ideas of things to look into. So, thank you. Also, there are so many diverse groups out there that I would never imagine. So many of you are on library boards, I didn't even know that was a thing.
Post by basilosaurus on Feb 5, 2024 3:29:47 GMT -5
Does going to the pub full of expats count?
I used to do mundo lingo. It just doesn't exist in my current location.
I've also done couchsurfers. They had weekly pizza and beer meetups in multiple locations/countries where I've lived. I've met great people that way, even if I didn't have the ability to host.
Back in the day I did soup to letters which was a planned parenthood thing where we got together for a meal and wrote letters to reps.
And then there are various meetup groups. They span quite the spectrum.
I'm part of a choir. It's one where you don't learn from sheet music, so it's accessible to all. We have people with all sorts of level of talent. I've been doing it for a year. Before all of this, I was also playing sport - I played cricket and field hockey. If my knees allowed it, and there were more people my age, I'd rejoin.
Puzzle exchange club in my neighborhood. We meet at a coffee house once a month to exchange. It’s been a fun way to meet new people and is the right level of commitment for me.
this is my dream club. I wonder if I have the energy to start such a thing...
I’m seriously impressed that some of you find time for all of this! I only have one kid, and between work and his activities, I feel like I’m at capacity.
yup. I like my life the way it is, I do not want to add anything that feels like a commitment!
I am a member of my gym (bootcamp) which is such a big part of my life now. We do races together, workouts daily, fun parties, etc. Hell, some of us even travel together! It is 100% my time and I cannot imagine my life without it.
I will preface this with the fact that DH and I are both huge extroverts and possibly insane.
DH actually founded a silly German club in our city nearly 20 years ago that now has 500+ members so we're pretty involved with that.. not as heavily in the last decade or so, but he's on the board and we attend the monthly meetings/events. We live in a city with a ton of German events and are official members of one club and then attend events for other five or so clubs. If we wanted, we could go to an event every night, there is SO much going on if you look. So I say, yes, go for the German club! They're a fun and social group.
I currently volunteer with the ballet and have been a part of running/training clubs in the past. I've also had times I've been involved with church groups, a small group leader in a weekly women's bible study, and a few different book clubs, SAHM clubs, and I was a Girl Scout troop leader for a few years when my daughter was younger. Since COVID, a lot of that has dropped off, but I'm looking forward to adding some back. Right now I'm in a fun book club at work and I chair a committee for employee engagement for our division of 170+ people. I've been trying to lean into more work/industry-related stuff.
DH plays on a beer league softball team and has for years and also a soccer team for men ages 40+, both have events outside of games and those have been fun. We've made a lot of friends this way. We went to dinner with three other couples from soccer this past weekend.
We have season tickets to DH's local alma mater's college football team. We have a few different groups that we tailgate with and travel to away games.
And we're members of a small country club. We volunteer with the swim team in the summer and attend all sorts of events associated with the club throughout the year.
I’m single, no kids and moved back to my hometown after 20+ years away during COVID.
I’m in a book club, which is pretty large and has sub-tracks (e.g. sci-fi, classics, short novels, non-fiction, young adult) run by different co-organizers. I can always find something I want to read. We joke that this is the one book club where people actually read the book! They have a mix of in-person and virtual meetings.
I also volunteer for a women’s tech networking organization. I also belong to a professional association for project managers (PMI) and they have been hitting me up to volunteer as well.
I used to belong to a running club, but I’ve had some injuries. I wish I could find a casual one where people are just doing slow 5ks to stay in shape. Inevitably it starts casual and the next thing everyone starts training for marathons and half-marathons.
I belong to our local natural history museum and participate in hiking trips with trained volunteers who give commentary on the trees, plants, animals, geology and Native American communities.
I think it’s cool that folks our age belong to Elks and fraternal organizations. Around here, the feedback is that they are dominated by retirees who don’t like change or new ideas.
My kids play hockey, so I have zero extra time for activities just for me.
I am their team manager and have a lot of fun with the other parents, but they aren't relationships/activities that would exist without my kids playing.
I'm in two book clubs: one is a social justice-focused reading group that I started at work, the other is one for fun with a group of friends. I'm on the board of my neighborhood association. H and I are members of a professional club (which is like a country club but it's in the city so minus the country lol).
In my 30s before I had kids, I was part of a triathlon club and a masters swimming group. I was on the board of the tri club. I haven't had time for either as a working parent, but I someday would like to go back.
I've thought about low key joining a running club; there are several in the area. Mostly I run solo though due to scheduling and time constraints.
Post by litskispeciality on Feb 5, 2024 11:16:08 GMT -5
I haven't had "me" time in a over a year. When I did I was involved with 1 - 2 knitting/crochet groups that met at different times. One met once a month on Saturday's, and one met one Friday night a month. It was good to socialize, drink coffee or eat pizza (as appropriate.) The Fri night group's purpose was to make items to donate, so it was a good motivator. The Saturday group often did one big community service project a year, and then you could work on your own projects and just socialize. I was honestly kind of frustrated when DH would finally have time off during these get togethers because I felt I needed/wanted to see him, but needed my own socialization.
I attended a couple of board meetings for the Fri night group (met on a different night), and helped with fundraisers, but they were kind of jerks about how much time you had to volunteer, including on Christmas Eve or some holiday that might be my holiday due to my husband's work. That really turned me off, which is sad.
Anyway, I'm pretty sure the Saturday group no longer meets after COVID. I should call and find out but I've been booked every Saturday since early Dec. The Fri night group still sends me updates, but they do some weird things and change meeting locations a lot (rumors are the place gently asks them to relocate), so I don't make such an effort to go if I have time.
All that to say I want to have time to do something fun like craft with people. I'd love to join an IRL book club too, but haven't had time to look for one, and I'm lucky if I read 2 books a month right now, so I don't think I'd have a lot of time to read a book not of my choosing. Someday!