Spending time... enjoying company...

Some of my readers may think that I probably spent the better half of my late teens and early twenties either in Mars or Pluto, because I had never actually thought about the idea of spending time with people. Ok, let me step back for a moment. I love spending time with people. That's not what I am talking about. For me, spending time with people wasn't something I thought about, I just did it.

I played volleyball, danced competitively, did volunteer work teaching adults how to read and write (literacy-related work), and in doing all of those activities, I spent time with people. I also hung out with my friends all the time. But it never occurred to me (continuing along the train of thought that I established in the earlier post on 'getting to know someone') that actually I was seeking someone's company.

It hasn't been until I have been in Canada that it has dawned on me that we humans as social beings tend to gather around our own kind, and that because of our gregarious nature, we want to spend time with people. I remember that I told my good friend H that I was "out-people'd" in the sense that I needed some time alone. But those periods when I need "space" are so brief that most of my friends never notice them. Only until I tell them that I do need some space do they realize that I actually sometimes enjoy my alone time. I am good friends with myself, you know :)

On a related side-bar, I also think that spending time with people can also be considered enjoying someone's company. I think that we seek the company of like-minded people. H asked me what does it say about me when a few of my friends have mind-reading as their super-power (see this post to understand what I'm talking about). Well, I'd say that maybe they got my power wrong, because I probably should also be a mind-reader, hehe.

But I think it says that I enjoy the company of people who are intelligent and thoughtful. However, I would say that I also enjoy the company of energetic, intense individuals (manipulating electricity and fire). I sometimes hate those little tests. But sometimes they do help me find out something about myself I didn't know.