When I stopped being the one investing all the effort into relationships and started matching their energy, my “friends” disappeared.
Now I’m like the new kid on the playground, wondering if there’s a spot for her at the monkey bars.
To build new connections, I created an account on Meetup.com and started attending events. No one can be my friend if they don’t know I exist.
One meetup, a virtual draw-together event hosted by a visual arts school, sticks out in my mind like an itchy scab. Social stuff has always baffled me, but I was committed to bumbling through the session to find my place in the local arts community.
On the day of the event, I sucked in a breath, squeezed my eyes shut, and forced myself to click the terrifying button that would plaster my face onto Zoom.
At the beginning of the 1-hour get-together, the group leader gave us a reference photo of an attendee’s pet tortoise.
She said we could use anything we wanted to create an art piece from the photo, so I whipped out my iPad. I started as a traditional artist, but since moving into a 300-square-foot space, I’ve learned to love creating digital art with the ProCreate app.
I noticed the attendees were older than me, and I was eager to learn from experienced artists.
Excited about the assignment, I created a canvas and got to work. I found having a conversation while I was drawing tricky. But I enjoyed listening to them talk as I nursed my lukewarm coffee and concentrated on illustrating.