It’s almost the weekend, which for some means a handful of plans you are half-committed to.
We’ve all heard about what it means to live in a swipe culture and we’ve all experienced flaky friends and have probably been flaky ourselves at times (guilty!). It’s frustrating for people to cancel last minute and it stinks to go to an event that sounded fun at the time but now feels like a chore. The next time you find yourself debating whether or not to go to an event try considering the following:
Do you want to flake because you don’t want to go or because you don’t want to be seen?
Maybe it’s the filtered social world we live in but there seems to be a notion of being “on” and being “off”. We are humans not robots—our energy fluctuates, our moods change, our days fall of track. Until we accept that we can present less than our best selves, social engagements will ALWAYS drain us instead of just on the days we’re running low on energy.
You can fumble through a party, you can show up in your work clothes, you can be you. Giving yourself this permission will make it so much easier to determine when staying in is a form of self-care to recharge or when staying in is a form of avoidance that’s creating social anxiety. You don’t have to commit to bringing your best self, you just have to commit to showing up.