How will you continue to nurture it in 2013?
Last year, I wrote "To Be or Not to Be Invisible: Try!"
( http://philsreverb.blogspot.com/2011/12/to-be-or-not-to-be-invisible-try.html)
You can follow that link and realize what I was feeling at the time. I would go out, return, and meet no one who knew me, and I felt like I was an invisible person. So I tried something different in 2012. I decided to go to Chatham as often as time permitted. I made the grocery store there the only one that I shopped at. I walked on main street, and often went into shops that were welcoming. I joined the health club in town. Haircuts at my favorite hair salon became more regular. I bought sub sandwiches at the corner store. I made it a point to talk to people who knew me.
All in all, I was building relationships not just with a single person, but with many people, and really a village. It is not as if they all know me there. I know some people. But I was there. I felt at home. I was not invisible in the village any longer.
I expanded my visibility by occasionally dropping in at neighbors' houses, by hosting a party for our anniversary, by accepting an invitation to a barbecue, by making time for a lunch with friends, by attending community functions of the fire company and the historical society.
I can honestly say, that I have overcome my invisibility issue. Probably next year, I will be wishing for invisibility again. I hope not.
The relationships with friends in the village and town have always meant a lot to me. I think I did a good job of fostering these relationships in 2012. I will continue to do this into 2013, and expand the circle.
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