The Saturday Morning Post: Get Involved, Remain Engaged

Volunteering sounds like making a commitment, to being there, to doing things that have to be done, creating obligations at a time in my life when I want fewer obligations and more time to explore creativity. At the same time, I don't want to spend all of my time in relative isolation. Now I am seldom truly alone, my Sweet Bear is nearly always here, this is a desire for social contact with more than just home. 

There was a story on Public Radio about an epidemic of loneliness. A mass shortage of social interaction. Research shows that social media has made this worse, rather than better.  Especially the big platforms that use algorithms to feed us paid content and advertising, rather than the updates from family and in-person friends. I miss getting the daily posting of what Jackie is having for dinner each day. 

That being said, how do we build social contact? The last three years that I worked, social contact in the office fell apart. We worked remotely for 18 months, and when we returned to the office, only about 10% of the people were there any given day. It was good to see those people, but I missed the random walking around talking with people. Management by Walking Around, someone wrote a book on that back in the 1980s. We did it because it fed our creative thinking.  People unrelated to our division, would be doing something we could model, or have suggestions we could not think of without their help. 

When I retired that contact largely ended.  I stay in touch with the person who took over when I left, we meet for lunch 10 or 12 times a year. I hope that my input helps her with being creative. 

What other options are there? Get involved in your community. Go to gallery openings, artist talks, author talks, book parties, take a class, lead a class. When you go, silence your phone and leave it in your pocket. Go to concerts. I can't remember the last time I heard a high school band concert, or the local Gay Mens Choir (in Orlando so it was before 1995.) There are musicians playing tonight in a church or, a bar, restaurant, nightclub, or civic organization near you. Engaging with creative people, will inspire your creativity. 

Volunteering with our community arts group started innocently enough. I entered a couple of paintings in one of the shows, and on the drop off day, hung around and handed the hammer to Kevin, helping him hang the show. I was invited back to help hang the next show. Then I was asked to help with some organizing, then asked if I would serve as co-chair. This has fed my creativity in unexpected ways, that I will write about later this year. 

The goal is to remain engaged, to regularly see people you don't regularly see. To talk to strangers, to become acquainted, maybe to make some new friends. Doing this pushes back against isolation, and feeds your creativity. Try it. What do you have to lose?