People who need people

Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to work I go. Last Monday was my first day back at work. I’m not running on all cylinders but getting back to 100 percent slowly but surely.

Downtime was amazing but after day six, it started to get to me. Going from being a very social person, interacting with hundreds of people daily, to nothing but a dog and cat, seemed to send me into a tailspin.

Are there people who run on being around others and being social is just a part of who they are?

My first day back was at Stonewall. Although I made a conscious effort to take everything slowly, I still found myself staying around after I finished, chatting to patrons. The human contact seemed to relax me.

It got me thinking about the label we have in our community, ‘scene queen’, which I take offence to, as it’s often used as a derogatory term. I’m not a scene queen. I work in most of the gay clubs on Oxford St, so technically I am the scene.

But could there be others out there who just need to be around other people? Sitting at home on the internet or in front of the TV would be like torture for them. Why should it be such a bad thing to want a social life?

I’m not saying that nightclubs and pubs are where it’s all at. Gatherings with friends, movies, dinners all fall under the heading, ‘Being Social’.

Many punters say to me, “Oh, I haven’t been out because I have been good”. Meaning that going out is bad?  Or is it that when they go out, they don’t have the willpower to say no to the bad things that can be found in any club or pub in the world?

After spending almost two weeks by myself at home, I know I am a social person and need regular contact with others to live a healthy life. Whether that is in a club or just catching up with friends, I know that this makes me who I am. Even at 85 I’m sure I will still be out and about.