Suggestions for fun? - Al-Anon Family Group

glad · ~*Service Worker*~

Suggestions for fun?

Christy · ~*Service Worker*~

Are you attending Alanon meetings? There are lots of friends there waiting to divert their thoughts and have some fun.

I met a very dear friend at Alanon. We often have fun together. Movies, lunches, concerts...or just acting like a couple nut jobs.
I've attended her sons hockey games and she has attended my son's gigs (he's a lead guitarist). Sometimes we just make a date to see what fun we can scare up. We go walking in different parks and nature preserves just to see what we can discover.
You can also meet a network of people by volunteering for hospitals, soup kitchens, animal shelters.
Make sure you're smiling and hold the thought of meeting some fun people while you're out and about. It'll come.
A thought just occured to me to google for you. I came up with this.

Volunteer in Dallas

Good Luck!!
Christy

david62 · ~*Service Worker*~

Good morning, my fellow Texan!

Do you attend a face to face al-anon group?

If you do, do they go out for a meeting after the meeting?

In the groups I attend, a large percentage of us will hang out after the meeting at a restaurant and have dinner, desert or just drink coffee. Over time, as we all became closer and closer, we started doing social things together. We have gatherings at each other's houses on the weekends where we cook food, play games and visit (sometimes we will even sneak in a meeting too wink

).

We go to the movies, dances..whatever!! lol

This is definately a group of people that I have that gets together to have good clean fun. There is rarely alcohol involved on any level..we just enjoy each other's company.

Anyway, that is something I might suggest you look into.

Have a great weekend!

Yours still in recovery,
David

lin0606 · ~*Service Worker*~

I'm a little surprised that you say you must be either single or married to be accepted at your church - maybe a different church would be the answer there?

If you like to work out, then maybe instead of going to the gym, join a sports team instead. That way you actually get to know the people you are exercising
with.

Any type of activity that you join with a group will work, if you don't feel comfortable doing things on your own. I had a great time once at a knitting class I took only took it in order to learn to knit, but we all ended up having a ball. ("having a "ball"" - get it? I kill me...)

Learn to be comfortable going on your own. Many things are actually more enjoyable alone, because then you can pace it the way you really want to, rather than giving in to another person's agenda. It's just that we (especially women) tend to feel that there is something 'wrong' with going on our own. You can get past that, and learn to be the captain of your own ship. Maybe try pampering yourself - go to lunch and then to a matinee and only suit yourself. Take a book so you have something to do while you eat.

Jean4444 · ~*Service Worker*~

Hi glad, take a class! I just started a QiGong class and will probably begin Tai Chi to go with it (they are taught by the same woman at the Y I recently joined). I love it and its all about building positive energy (CHI) from the universe to use as your own positive life force. Its really beautiful and it makes me feel great. I am so happy I joined my little local YMCA, it has made a huge difference in my life.

Also this is a fun thing one of my best friends does: buy an interesting and unusual new cookbook and start cooking your way through it! Learn some new recipes, new ways of cooking, new cultural traditions. Also, taking cooking classes are a gas!!

Work somehow with kids- they are a hoot and make you forget all your problems instantly! There are lots of programs out there- even if its just one day a week.

Become a docent (volunteer) at a museum. Lots of very cool, very highly educated people do this: retired doctors, etc. I do this and its really fun and interesting. Usually its like taking a class- you learn a lot about some specific art history and then work with tour groups coming into the museum- help them understand the artwork they are looking at. Its really fun and the other people who do it are usually pretty fantastic, etc. I love being a docent. Plus, its strictly voluntary and you can do as much or as little as you would like.

You get the idea- I can tell you are going to do just fine in these things! Follow your bliss. Hugs, J.

Tiger2006 · ~*Service Worker*~

usually in newspapers there's sections where they talk about what's going on in the local area as far as theater's, museams, festivals, et cetera.
It might also be time to put in time at the local central office. Never can enough time energy and work be paid back to the organization that has given so much

round3 · Senior Member

Glad, I got an email a couple of weeks ago from someone at my church - just out of the blue. She wrote to me that she had been in town for two years and only had one close friend. I had met her at a church social some months back and I must have mentioned that I take leisure classes at the university here. She apparently remembered that and she emailed me to ask if I would take a class or two with her this semester. I told her I would love to. (Two things I learned a long time ago...never turn down an invitation to dance, and never turn down an invitation to go do something fun....OH and never turn down a homemade cookie..) ANYWAY...I really admired this woman's approach. She really put herself out there. I've always been too shy to do that. I'm trying to learn to be more like that. What she did is not a bad idea at all.

Church is another way to meet people. Plenty of married women go to our church without their spouses. PLENTY! And they get together socially, too. They volunteer on committees and have really gotten to know each other. Many of them have husbands who go to another church, more of them have husbands that they're sick of begging to go to church.

Like others have said, socializing doesn't have to involve alcohol either. I rode on a parade float last night - and it was an alcohol-free float. We had a blast!!! I joined a book club a couple of years ago - that's fun, and it doesn't involve alcohol either (necessarily).

Get involved with something you love or that you're passionate about. You'll meet plenty of folks who have the same passion. Dallas is a huge city (my family lives there). Lots of cultural opportunities. Lots of museums - if you're into that kind of thing. You may just click with someone there - and be able to go have coffee afterwards.

I signed up for a computer course last week at our local library. Just wanted to sharpen my skills. I ended up sitting next to a woman and we chatted after the class. You just never know where a friendship might be formed. Just keep yourself open to the possibilities!

Good luck!
~R3

serendipity · ~*Service Worker*~

I am taking my own personal class on isolation! LOLOL!!! So, as far as getting out there, well, it isn't on my priority list these days. I like what everyone else has suggested. I find my escape in the movies. When I can't take thinking about myself and my life for one more minute, I go to the movies. I have yet to go alone, I go with a friend or mostly with the kids. I love the movies. I love the popcorn and I love the distraction. Paying 7 bucks for a ticket and 15 for popcorn makes me FOCUS on the movie itself even if it is a bad one. I figure out WHAT is bad about the movie (directing?acting?writing?costumes?) and write my own review in my head.

My meetings is where I have found a wealth of friends who understand when I don't pick up my thousand pound phone to call, they like me anyway wink

.

And putting myself out there and saying to another human being "hi! want to be friends?" And yes, I have been that goofey and direct! I walked up to a woman after a meeting and said "Look, I'm looking for a new best friend and you said you're new to town and lonley, so, lets be best friends!" And we laughed and she is one of my best friends today.

Good luck!!! I love Texas! Lived in Houston when I was a teen and that is where I realized that no matter where I go, HP will always take care of me and I will always be able to make friends, good friends who love me.

glad · ~*Service Worker*~

thanks to everyone. Great ideas I just have to make myself get out there. And yes I went to a couple of face to face meetings, need to maybe try another group or time... but plan to get really involved this next week, learn how to work steps and start looking for sponsor! Thanks a million!

Jerry F · ~*Service Worker*~

Aloha Glad!!

Great post. We just gotta have fun cause it's the icing on this cake called recovery. We do alot of the suggestions you read here including celebrating each others birthdays, anniversaries and the like. One of the bests that we do is have other members over for a pot luck. We got some awesome cooks and bakers in program here and our pot luck dinners turn out to be fun pig outs and great discussion get togethers. Home is always comfy and we enjoy each others.

Thanks for the topic.

(((((hugs))))) smile

optimistundone · Veteran Member

Howdy, neighbor. I just took my daughter to the American girl store at the Galleria to window shop. I don't know if you have any nieces but watching her face today was pure joy. As you know there are several mega churches in the area with all sorts of social groups as well as al-anon meetings. Central market and whole foods have cooking classes all the time. Dog park at White Rock. Art galleries in Plano and Fair Park. Get on a mailing list so that you get notice of all the art openings. Tons of live music events, food festivals. Local universities offer inexpensive performances. Plus, I love guidelive.com to find "off-the-beaten track" events in our city. There's no excuse to stay home in the Big D. :)

Diva · ~*Service Worker*~

Hi Glad. I like the "take a class" suggestion, and have done that several times myself just for fun. I completed my formal education a long time ago, but it is always fun to learn. I learned to work with etched and stained glass, which led to owning my business. I don't need the money, but it's fun, and I keep as busy as I want to be. I am also a registered jeweler, having taken a 2-year course in goldsmithing in Louisiana. What great fun!! I learned to speak Russian and Yiddish.

I play with my dog and my four cats. That's fun. I have been known to walk around my neighborhood and introduce myself to those I have not met. Knock on the door. I have had a lot of fun conversations doing that. And not once have I felt unwelcome.

Take a walk among some beautiful surroundings. Visit a pet store; go window shopping; eat an ice cream cone; dance to the music; pass along a good joke; change your hair style; browse around a thrift shop; laugh out loud; learn to paint; learn to play the piano; or maybe the guitar. I could go on and on.

I have fun at every turn, every day. That's the only way to live.

No go out and get started!!!!

Diva

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