#RSRSeesTheUSA Days 28-29: Los Angeles, CA
Day 27 was jam packed with good people and gave me a social hangover that needed attending on Day 28.
I saw three separate groups of people throughout the day, including a last-minute, day-of dinner plan with some dance class buddies. All of this, plus a visit to the Hollywood Farmer’s Market and a delicious tamarind agua fresca, made for a lovely day. Truly.
But oh, how my social energy just is not what it used to be. Even in the Before Times (aka pre-pandemic aka BCE… Before Covid Era), I’d been steadily leaning more and more into my introverted side. But now, after over two years of majorly curtailed social behavior, I felt like I needed (at least) an entire day of rest to recover. It was an odd feeling that I’m trying to pay attention to. I was happy to see and chat with every single person I spent time with. I reconnected with people I’d missed, with people I’d never met but heard stories about for years, with people I’d only been seeing on Zoom since BCE. All of that felt legitimately bucket refilling. I enjoyed every bit of the time we spent together (see my grin in the group photo of folks I’ve been dancing with for literal years).
And yet, waking up this morning (Day 28, that is), I felt fuzzy-headed and reluctant to get out and do anything. I didn’t let that keep me from my plans to meet up with another colleague/new friend for a vitamin D soaked, porpoise and pelican spotting walk along Venice Beach (LA sight: seen). Again, it was a deeply enjoyable experience.
After which, I came back to the friend’s place where I’m staying and napped and futzed around on the internet for the next five hours, which was all my brain or body could handle.
This social fatigue is a phenomenon I’m keeping an eye on without judgment, more with curiosity. Will it remain? Will it shift over time? How will I keep on finding the balance between my needs for alone time and my enjoyment of other people’s company? How can we all keep on doing a better job than BCE of acknowledging and stating these kinds of needs out loud?
Maybe I’m waxing philosophical about all of this because at the end of the day, I hauled myself up and went out to the beach at Santa Monica Pier (LA sight: seen) to watch the sunset. Call me basic, but sunsets really never disappoint. So that’s what I’ll leave off with: the sun sinking over the Pacific, which means I’ve officially made it all the way across the country.
Cloud of the day: this sunset puff of cotton candy over the Santa Monica beach
