Having lots of social plans in a short space of time

This blog post will be another blog of mine on the topic of friendships, but will focus on social plans. A lot of us tend to have social plans with friends and family on a regular basis. There will also be times where we have a lot of social plans in a short space of time. People will have different opinions on whether having lots of social plans in a short space of time is a good or a bad thing. In this blog post, I will give my own thoughts on this.

It’s usually better to have more social plans than less

When I think about social plans, the first things that come into mind is that they are fun, makes me happy and something that helps work life balance. Therefore, I have found that I have always preferred the times where I have had more social plans compared to the times where I have had less. This is because ultimately I have more fun and enjoy myself more if I have more social plans, even it if comes at the cost of being extremely busy and exhausted. Furthermore, I find that you have more social plans it is easier to manage by rescheduling where possible and even not going ahead with some plans. Whereas if you have less social plans then you can fall in the trap of trying to force social plans. 

Different people will have different views on what lots of social plans looks like for them

Everyone has different social lives. Therefore, there will never be an agreement on what lots of social plans looks like, as it will be different for everyone. Some people are extroverted, part of several big friendship groups and it may be common for them to have 3 or 4 social plans a week. Whereas other people are happy to go weeks without any social plans and may consider 2 social plans in a given week as a lot. Personally, I have an average of 1 or 2 social plans a week, so therefore I would consider 3 or more social plans in a given week as a lot. As everyone will have different views, it is important to appreciate that what may look like a normal amount of social plans to you may be a lot for someone else, and vice versa.

It can also depend on how busy other aspects of your life are

When considering whether having lots of social plans in a given time period is a good thing, it shouldn’t be considered in isolation. Your social life is only one aspect of your life, and there are other aspects to account for as well, such as career and any life events. If other aspects of your life are very busy, then having lots of social plans could backfire as it could lead to too little down time and result in exhaustion. On the other hand, if you are not very busy in other aspects of your life then having a lot of social plans is probably not a bad thing. Therefore, when you think about how many social plans you can manage in a given period of time, it is important to account for how busy you are outside of your social life.

It can be hard to avoid

It is possible to be invited to lots of social events that just happen to be within a short period of time. Although a lot of people would say that it easy to get around this by saying no to some of the social plans, it is easier said than done. There are genuine reasons which can make it hard to say no to certain social plans. You could be invited to exciting social plans that you know you will enjoy, such as playing football with friends. With exciting social plans, there is that risk that if you say no than you will get FOMO (fear of missing out) afterwards. Furthermore, you could be invited to something which involves meeting friends you haven’t seen in ages, and you know that if you say no then it may be another few months before you get the chance to see them. Therefore, it can be hard to avoid having a lot of social plans in a short space of time if they are exciting plans and involve seeing friends you haven’t seen in ages. In this situation it is easier to go with the flow rather than spend so much time thinking about which social plans you want to go ahead with.