Fun

Of friends and fun

Posted on by Alice Maisie

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote an article called ‘the beauty in sadness’ and I talked all about how there is an importance in having a contrast between the happy and sad moments in your life, so that you can fully appreciate the happy times. Well prepare yourselves to witness this contrast in the form of a far more happy blog post, because yesterday I had one of these wonderfully happy moments and I thought I had better share.

Have you ever just looked around a room full of your friends and family and thought to yourself ‘by gum, I have an amazing taste in friends and I can’t believe all of these people are in my life. I’m the luckiest person out’? Because that was me last night.

You see, it was my birthday. Actually that’s a lie. It was a few days prior to my birthday but we were celebrating anyway. For weeks I had been cooped up in the house; not seeing many people; spending my days cleaning and baking and performing general party preparations. It was exhausting and by the end of it, I was sad and lonely and longing for the opportunity to see people again. So when I was suddenly surrounded by so many wonderful people, it made me reflective.

For this reflection to make sense, I should probably explain something. I see myself as a floater. I have a lot of different friends in a lot of different places. I love them all. I drift from group to group and have a great time with everyone without ever being ridiculously close to one or two people. I have never been the sort of person to have a best friend. I just have a million amazing friends who I wouldn’t trade for anything. But this also means that I have a fear. I have a fear that as a floater, there will be a time where I drift away or where I will be left behind because I was the fun drifter who made life interesting but never had a particularly close bond to anyone. Now this is ridiculous because I love everyone so much that I would never allow this to happen but in the human mind, this fear is sometimes inevitable.

But last night, as 40 of my most favourites gathered to celebrate and have fun with me, all together for the first time, I was reminded of something. I was reminded that although I have approximately five different groups of friends and no best friends, they all have one thing in common. They love me and this love is returned. Also, they’re all ridiculously fun and brilliant to be around… but this is merely an additional observation and superfluous to expressing my point.

A couple of my friends said last night “wow, you have a lot of people who love you.” I do. A lot. And I love them all back, equally as much. Sometimes I think I might lose them and sometimes I think I’m not as close to them as I might think. But don’t we all share this worry? It is the simple getting together of friends, watching everyone work together, laugh together and enjoy eachother’s company which reminds us of how brilliant our relationships are and how lucky we are. So thankyou to all of the people who are in my life – you mean more to me than you could imagine. Thankyou for your smiles, for your banter, for your fun and for your personality. I’m lucky and I know it. Although I don’t have a best friend and sometimes I fear becoming lonely because of this, I know it will never happen because neither I, nor my friends will let it.

I hope this can remind you of how important you are to someone and of how important it is to surround yourself with people, whether it be lots of people or just a few.

Stay happy and look after your friends!

-Alice

Hello!

Posted on by Alice Maisie

Hello friends!

My name is Alice and I see the world differently. I think of life as a two part cocktail, made up of tangible and intangible elements. Life’s tangible elements are the things that can be measured; your achievements, your wealth, your time. In a society that is so obsessed with the ability to understand and measure everything, it is only natural that these are the things most people focus on everyday; the things that have the most influence on the judgement of our personal success and worth as a member of society. The importance of these tangible elements are so heavily established within our thought processes that they make us stressed, they make us sad, and sometimes they can blind us to the other half of life’s cocktail. The intangible elements are so often overlooked amidst the hustle and bustle of everyday life. I’m talking about the things that can’t be measured. To get philosophical about it, these are the things Alan Turing viewed as the defining elements of humanity, that separate man from machine. Our experiences, our memories, our emotions. In a world that is now so heavily focused on economic growth and scientific advances, it is no surprise that its people are becoming less like people and more like parts of a machine, wired for a specific purpose and drawn away from all the opportunities and experiences that make us human. This is sad.

But I don’t think it has to be this way. You know how I said I see life differently? This is what I meant.

I made a decision a while ago. That the intangible elements of life are just as important as the tangible. I work hard, yeah. Even though I avoid stressing out until it’s absolutely necessary, I still see the importance of ‘tangible success’. But you know what? Just to be really cliche, I’ll chuck this idea out there: life’s too short to miss an opportunity to smile. I’m one of those weird people that is always smiling. That says hello to strangers in a tone that is slightly too bright and happy to be appropriate in that particular situation. That finds hilarity in all the small things that no one else ever seems to notice. I love people. I love seeing them express themselves, I love hearing their stories and I love seeing them smile.

I wish other people could join me. It saddens me that so many people are missing out on so much brilliance. So I want to change it.

This blog is exactly as described. A documentation of life’s brilliance. Everything from talented buskers to creative fashion statements, to bustling cafes. All the things that people miss everyday as they stare down at their watches hoping they don’t miss their train. I want to make people smile. I want to bring together a community of people that have fun, smile way too often and say hi too happily, because that is what life is all about. I hope you will join me on my adventure.

Have fun and be brilliant,

– Alice