Today (June 16, 2022) is a holiday here in Grenada. As I was driving home from the office this evening, I saw my neighbour dressed up and about to leave home. She had some dishes in her hand. I imagined she and her spouse were going to a friend’s home, to be joined by other friends. I silently asked myself why had I been at work, when I no longer work in a hotel, but in the financial sector, which operates Monday to Friday from 8 to 4? It reminded me of a recent conversation which had got me seriously thinking.
A few Sundays ago, I was out to lunch with a friend from overseas and her friend who lives here. As it was a few years since I had seen her, we were catching up on what each other had been doing in the intervening years. Naturally, that included whether there were any developments in the romantic arena. “Nope….no boyfriend,” I reported. Why? Well, mostly because I have always been in work situations where I work many hours, even on weekend and holidays. My friend’s friend, after listening to my response asked “so what do you do for fun?” I couldn’t share anything exciting, apart from going to the beach.
Apart from being a single female non-national here and so not knowing many people, I spent 12 years working in a hotel, where we got 1 day off (any many weeks, I worked 7 days.) After 6 days of giving of myself to others, there was no way I wanted to socialize with anyone on my precious day off. So I met very few people who were not connected with the hotel. In the 25 years that I have been living in Grenada (mostly), I can count on 2 hands, the number of houses I have been to, whose owners were NOT connected with the hotel. I would joke and tell people that going to the supermarket was my social outing.
This status update came up in my Facebook memories a few weeks ago, and it was typical of what happened after a long day at work. I just wanted to be in the solitude of my home. (By the way, Goodies is a brand of hair curlers…in case you were wondering :)) Many years ago while chatting with a colleague at the hotel, I came to the realization that between the time I left work each day, and then returned the next, I did not speak. There was no one to call on the telephone. Back in those days, there was Instant Messenger, so I would speak to people overseas through that channel.
The decision to leave the industry in 2013 was in part because I wanted to work in different industries and interact with new people. Professionally, it has been great, but the social outings have remained non-existent, because somehow, I have ended up with concurrent projects which take up endless hours. Sure, I am grateful that I was able to support myself. But I was really hoping to be hanging out more….not having to work a full day, then come home and do MORE work!
I started a new assignment in January 2020. Before that, in December 2019, I had redone my vision board. Notice the top left hand side…”hang out with friends.” Zoom in as well, to the top right hand side. None has materialized. As I barrel to retirement in 2026, let’s see if things improve in the social department, as a single female. Maybe I need to take more chances? Maybe I will try manifesting more outings, and make the effort. Maybe, I need to divorce the job? Hmmmm.
To the single female readers, living the single life, what do you do for fun?
