Accept All First Invitations

S pring is the time of year on college campuses when friends new and old alike start inviting you to go do stuff that they think is fun, but which may not be on your list of go-to fun stuff, for example: baseball games, camping, improv shows, LARPing, museums, or the undie run.

Tell them you’re in, and ask if there’s anything you can bring. If they say, “Just show up,” bring something anyway!

In life – in case you haven’t noticed – the people who are your friends now are not the people with whom you’ll spend most of your friend time later. You’ll meet new people in every new place you live, as will your current friends, and the natural result of this is that you will forever see less and less of the people who are you friends at this moment. They might still be your friends, you just won’t see them very often because they’ll move to the other side of the country for work, or get married, or have kids.

You need new friends, and saying, “Yes, please,” or “Bigtime!” the first time somebody invites you into their weird little world of fun is the best way to move this process along.

If you’re of school age, remember that you know so little about life on Earth that you can’t possibly afford not to accept an invitation to learn more about it. So, go do that fun thing. If you don’t enjoy it, you don’t have to do it again, but if you do enjoy it, well, I told you so.

One heads-up: your parents will never be able to wrap their heads around the fact that you now enjoy things that they didn’t raise you to enjoy. Don’t waste energy trying to explain it to them, just send them pictures of you smiling doing it.