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> Our spreadsheets hammered home that what contributed most to our happiness was time spent together or with friends — while, crucially, not working — and there
by badpun 7y ago
> Our spreadsheets hammered home that what contributed most to our happiness was time spent together or with friends — while, crucially, not working — and there was no way to get more of that if we continued to live in the Bay Area, one of the most expensive parts of the country. So I proposed an idea that would have seemed radical were there not so much data backing it: “I think you should quit your job, we should sell our house, and we should move somewhere cheaper,” I told my husband matter-of-factly one day. So we did.
Will be kind of hard to meet with friends, as they have all stayed in the Bay Area?
- maneesh 7y agoYou are allowed to make new friends, even as an adult. As someone who has lived in a dozen cities in my adult life, it does take effort. But it seems like, as the author is willing to take the effort to track and adjust their life, they are likely willing to put in time to make new friends. I've found meetup.com to be an excellent way to make friends, as well as hobbies. (for me, standup comedy and DJing were excellent).
- village-idiot 7y agoGroup fitness classes at some gyms have a stable cohort that you’ll bond with over time.
- badpun 7y agoWe need a different word than "friends" for such bonds though... Someone who does not know your birthday is not a friend.
- dominotw 7y agoacquaintance ?
- village-idiot 7y agoRepeated interaction is a necessary first step to friendship, you cannot befriend someone you don’t see. My gym buddies are now my friends, and we see each other regularly outside of the gym context. Also, most of my friends don’t know when my birthday is, so that’s a bad metric imho. Birthdays are not universally important across the population.
- sirsar 7y agoI read a metric on a different thread recently: good friends help you move.
- mlevental 7y agolol wut. I have friends now of several decades who I see regularly (make effort to visit cross country) none of whose birthdays I know or who know mine.
- reificator 7y ago> Someone who does not know your birthday is not a friend. You and I have very different ideas of what is important in life and friendship.
- kylel 7y agoRe: DJing- I recently got into this. Do you DJ private/house parties or at nightclubs? From the forums I’ve read, people say it takes a lot of networking to get a gig/slot at a nightclub. I guess you make friends along the way too?