Day 11, Coffee (or YouTubes) with Friends: Self.com’s 14 Days to a Happier, Healthier You!

Day 11’s task is much harder than it looks. Especially when you’re working and out of school and most of your friends are either still in school or working full-time.

And, for me Day 11 fell on a weekday. I know.

We’re not college kids anymore. Fun times take a bit more planning than just running across the hall of your dorm to see if anyone wants to join you for a midnight Waffle House run.

I guess that’s why Self.com felt the need to give spending time with your closest friends its own day in the 14 days program. It’s that important and much harder than it used to be. Especially when many of your friends are out-of-state now.

Day 11 started out as a failure, but I think I was able to salvage it. Though I knew it’d be kind of a long-shot, it being a weekday and all, I contacted a few friends anyway to see if they’d like to meet for coffee later in the afternoon. As I’d expected, nobody was really able to. It’s towards the end of the fall semester so my student friends have exams to study for and projects to complete. My working friends often work full-time or they work the late-afternoon/night shifts at their jobs.

So then I thought, maybe it’d be better to at least touch base with them. To let them know in some small fun way, that even though we might be miles apart or have hectic schedules that I still think of them.

Facebook is perfect for that. For a quick hello or hilarious YouTube video to brighten up someone’s day, it’s a fast, yet unintrusive way to show that you care. I figure as busy as they are and as stressed out as they might be this time of year, they could all use a laugh. So I posted a few fun links on a some of my closest friends’ walls “just because.”

I tried to pick things that I not only knew would make them laugh but also ones that reminded me of  each of my friends and the fun memories I have of them.

I think Day 11 worked out pretty well, considering. I mean, I didn’t have any long “heart-to-heart” conversations as recommended by the 14 Days article. But sometimes that’s not feasible. Or even necessary. Sometimes it’s just best to share a laugh or reminisce and leave it at that.

Plus, doing this for my friends reminded me of some of the little things about their personalities that I really like. Not just the big things or how they’ve been there for me.

And I just felt closer to them than I otherwise would have felt if I hadn’t said anything, which I think makes me feel better about life in general.

I think for most people, that feeling of camaraderie, whether it’s in person at a coffee shop or online on your favorite social networking site, is vital to get through the tough parts of life and to celebrate the wins that you do get. It’s so vital, that as long as you have a few good friends, it doesn’t really matter how it happens so long as it happens. So long as you walk away feeling cared for and understood.

As always, I hope you enjoyed this post. Don’t hesitate to let me know what you think. I’d love to hear your opinions, questions and stories!

I’d also like to thank SELF Magazine for posting the article, “14 Days to a Happier, Healthier You!” , which inspired this blog post.

Thanks for reading and I hope you all have a lovely day!