Something that occurred to me that happened during that long phone call and travel came up and I found myself mentioning spending time with friends in various cities. Boston, Pittsburgh, Seattle. It wasn’t meant to be a flex. (I was excitedly talking about future travel plans.) But I realized that a friend network this widespread is unusual and would have been unthinkable for college aged me.
What’s the secret?
Well…
One-off make a friend. They talk about their friends. Meet those friends. Repeat until social network spans multiple cities.
And college aged me didn’t have the skills nor experience nor exposure to be able to do this. And that makes me think of how much being at Purdue held me back. Once free of the closet, I was free to be myself unashamed. And it is so much easier to befriend others when you stop trying to be someone else’s idea.
Because it’s real.