I was talking with a friend about online dating not too long ago. The dating scene seems to get more challenging the older you get. Online dating is a personal choice. I've met people who have been married for years that met online. In some ways you could weed out the creeps in other ways you might unfortunately meet a creep! I feel fortunate not to be in the dating scene.
When we first moved back from overseas it was hard. Due to my husband's new job, most of my friends "in town" lived across town around 45 minutes from us. We found a new church but many of the women seemed to work outside the home. I'm a fairly social person and I felt lonely. My child felt lonely. Our friends who we had lived next to for the past 3.5 years were now thousands of miles away on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. We would go to the park and like we did when we lived in Germany but often we were the only ones there.
Last week I started thinking about some of the friends I've made since moving back from Germany. Many of them I met at church but the ones I tend to meet up with and hang out with during the week, apart from small groups at church, are people I met online! Thanks to groups started through places like Meetup and Facebook, it was easy to find and join several different mom groups and homeschool groups online. I have made some really good friends with several ladies from these groups and our kids enjoy playing together. Most of these groups have a tight protocol they follow to keep the women and their children safe, which I like.
While I have no need for online dating, I have found that I have enjoyed and benefited from online friending! We are invited to so many events and play dates each week that we have to turn most of them down! In some ways it reminds me of when I got into my upper level college classes. All of the sudden I was in a classroom of people who tended to have similar interests as me. Now as a mother, it has been a blessing to find other moms who have similar beliefs and parenting styles as I have. I also have enjoyed getting to know people who parent differently than me. We can learn from each other. Not all women in these groups are stay-at-home moms, many work outside the home. However, one core thing we all have in common is that we love our children, want the best for their future, and are there for each other. Being a stay-at-home mom can be lonely. Being a work outside of the home mom can be lonely. Thankfully it doesn't have to be! We may not all live on the same street. But if you are tired of going to the park and realizing you're the only one there, find a group, invite others to join you. You don't have to parent alone.
One great thing about online friending is that you don't have to be a parent to meet others with similar interests as you. There are so great groups for singles and marrieds alike. There are groups for people with and without kids. There are travel groups, camping groups, sewing groups, Bible study groups, movie groups, and more. Thanks to the internet we are able to connect with more people than we ever were before.
Have you ever joined a group online?
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