[Socializing] As a sensitive person, I tried accepting a last-minute invitation.

Hello.
It is a humid, muggy day on this southern island.

(Thank you to everyone who has recently introduced my articles or added them to their magazines...! I wanted to express my gratitude quickly. ✨ May good things come your way 🍀)

This is sudden, but I am not good with [last-minute invitations].

Perhaps it wasn't like this when I was single, but
now that I have a family and spend a lot of time on housework, if someone says, 'Are you free today?', I think, 'Ugh 🤨... Why didn't you invite me by yesterday?'
I'm the type of person who gets bothered by that.

Well, I don't get many last-minute invitations these days anyway.

Also, [meeting people] itself requires a little bit of mental preparation or resolve for me... Perhaps there are some sensitive people out there who can relate??
Meeting someone to chat actually takes a surprising amount of energy.

Because of all that, I'm not good with last-minute invitations.

Then, at 7:00 AM today, I received an invitation from A, a former colleague I hadn't seen in about two years, saying, 'I'm going to lunch with so-and-so today, why don't you come along!?'

My first impression was, 'Today!? Ugh, what a hassle' ←
and negative thoughts popped up, like, 'I'm not really that close with so-and-so...' Since I'm not a morning person, I wasn't in the best mood, so bad feelings surfaced at first.

I could have declined immediately.
But,
[I know that I often end up enjoying gatherings with friends once I actually go.]

So I really listened to my heart.

At first, it was about 6:4 in favor of 'I don't want to go because it's a hassle. My housework will fall behind, and I'll be tired.'

I tried thinking about the benefits of going:
・I used to be close with colleague A, so I want to see her after all this time.
・I'm sure I'll enjoy it if I go
・Since both A and so-and-so have children, I don't know when I'll be able to see them next.
・I'm sure I'll be able to hear all sorts of stories about our old company and about raising children.

With those thoughts bubbling up, I decided, 'Alright! Let's accept the invitation!'

And I steered myself toward accepting the last-minute invitation.

As a result, it was so much fun lol 🤣 Challenge successful!!

What was great was that all four points I considered as [benefits of going] turned out to be true.

So, I felt it was a big deal that I was able to learn the importance of listening closely to my own heart even more than the benefits.

If I had turned it down as usual by saying it was "too much trouble," I wouldn't have been able to experience today's fun and sense of fulfillment.

And there was one other good thing.

I was able to grow quite fond of someone I thought I didn't get along with.

When we worked together, she was meddlesome, rather strong-willed, talked a lot, and was close with men, so I just thought we didn't click.

But, after a few years apart, perhaps I've matured,

I was able to see her good points honestly and acknowledge them.

She is caring. She has a certain strength of character, which is why she's been able to stick with a demanding job for so long. She communicates well with everyone, so she has many friends regardless of gender. She's smart and good at her job. She's recognized by her bosses and seniors...

Ah, I see, I was envious of her.

I could feel the frustration I had over a decade ago fading away.

This also happened because I tried accepting a sudden invitation.
A good breeze must have blown through my heart...

That was the story of a sudden invitation that made me think about such things.

By the way, this article was also inspired by this article by Maico.

It is a membership and paid article, but please check it out if you'd like.
It might be a wonderful key to unlocking feelings of jealousy or dislike toward the same sex.

Well then, thank you for coming to read again today!

...However, as a highly sensitive person, I did think that I would prefer invitations to meet up to be made at least by the day before lol

I hope you have a wonderful evening.

Farewell🍀