4 ms·

I think this totally depends on where you look. I've had a great time during the pandemic just living with my high school friends, hanging out, drinking and smo

I think this totally depends on where you look. I've had a great time during the pandemic just living with my high school friends, hanging out, drinking and smoking and just doing whatever. And before the pandemic, this is what my work friends and I would do in the bay area pretty much every day. I think the key here is to just find grounded, normal people. There are a lot of insane narcissists in this country that need to consume, post, buy, etc. Kind of like the movie "American Psycho". These people generally suck IMO and I try to avoid them. My personal rule of thumb is that the more time a person spends on social media, the less I will find in common with them. I find social media obsession to be highly correlated with being an unpleasant narcissist.

tsol 5y ago
>drinking and smoking and just doing whatever Just to demonstrate one of the issues-- How about if your friends don't do this? Right there is a huge barrier to socializing-- you tend to hang out with people with similar drug habits. When someone gets sober, they often report losing a lot of friends because the alcohol is the common ground and without it hanging out on a couch doing nothing feels weird. >I think the key here is to just find grounded, normal people. I agree, I'm kind of exaggerating the difference between cultures in order to highlight it-- but it's not like I have no Caucasian American friends that can just hang out. I definitely do. It feels more like some people are more within that isolating sort of culture, while others aren't. A close friend from high school reached a point where he wouldn't hang out unless we were doing something, while there was a less close friend who I still hang out with as he's open to just hanging out for the sake of hanging out without needing to include an activity. The experience of the first friend still puzzles me, but the second friend is just like most friends from my culture.

tsol 5y ago

>drinking and smoking and just doing whatever Just to demonstrate one of the issues-- How about if your friends don't do this? Right there is a huge barrier to socializing-- you tend to hang out with people with similar drug habits. When someone gets sober, they often report losing a lot of friends because the alcohol is the common ground and without it hanging out on a couch doing nothing feels weird. >I think the key here is to just find grounded, normal people. I agree, I'm kind of exaggerating the difference between cultures in order to highlight it-- but it's not like I have no Caucasian American friends that can just hang out. I definitely do. It feels more like some people are more within that isolating sort of culture, while others aren't. A close friend from high school reached a point where he wouldn't hang out unless we were doing something, while there was a less close friend who I still hang out with as he's open to just hanging out for the sake of hanging out without needing to include an activity. The experience of the first friend still puzzles me, but the second friend is just like most friends from my culture.