Resonate a lot with this! I'm 1.5 years post college graduation, and it's incredibly hard for me to get the sheer silliness from that time period back. Maybe a dinner party is the way to go.
"With, say, 20+ people, you can have many conversational fire pits going, and if one is extinguished, the party goes on because there are other fires still crackling." is a fantastic sentence. I love the direction you're going!
congrats on hosting your first dinner party! feels like a rite of passage for late 20s & early 30s😌
love the essence of this essay and the reminder to tap into our childlike wonder and give others the permission to awaken dormant parts of themselves - a big intention of mine this year!
Any advice for creating an environment conducive to this without seeming forced or cringe? I totally agree with the premise, but when I picture doing this with some of my more serious friends I anticipate a *first day of class icebreaker awkward* moment.
To answer my own question I bet having at least 1 partner who understands the assignment would help undo the log jam of needing to appear dignified.
I’ve also been hosting dinner parties recently since I moved into a larger apartment. It definitely is scary wondering if different friend group will mesh but I haven’t had any bad experiences yet. And my bias has always been to medium sized parties, I feel large parties make it too easy to be a wallflower.
And I love the Keith J reference. As soon as you explained the candy cane game improv comedy and his book came to mind. There’s something about silly things like that that make it so obvious how ossified/overly serious we have become, like trying an sport and realizing you are deeply uncoordinated.
I’m not sure if you’ve read much of him but Alan Watts has some tangentially related essays on how we treat life as *very serious* when it needn’t be. I.e. maybe life isn’t a destination, or a journey. Maybe
Resonate a lot with this! I'm 1.5 years post college graduation, and it's incredibly hard for me to get the sheer silliness from that time period back. Maybe a dinner party is the way to go.
Loved this!!
"With, say, 20+ people, you can have many conversational fire pits going, and if one is extinguished, the party goes on because there are other fires still crackling." is a fantastic sentence. I love the direction you're going!
congrats on hosting your first dinner party! feels like a rite of passage for late 20s & early 30s😌
love the essence of this essay and the reminder to tap into our childlike wonder and give others the permission to awaken dormant parts of themselves - a big intention of mine this year!
Any advice for creating an environment conducive to this without seeming forced or cringe? I totally agree with the premise, but when I picture doing this with some of my more serious friends I anticipate a *first day of class icebreaker awkward* moment.
To answer my own question I bet having at least 1 partner who understands the assignment would help undo the log jam of needing to appear dignified.
Dinner parties are fun! Have you ever seen the Frasier dinner party episode? A prime lesson on what not to do lol.
I’ve also been hosting dinner parties recently since I moved into a larger apartment. It definitely is scary wondering if different friend group will mesh but I haven’t had any bad experiences yet. And my bias has always been to medium sized parties, I feel large parties make it too easy to be a wallflower.
And I love the Keith J reference. As soon as you explained the candy cane game improv comedy and his book came to mind. There’s something about silly things like that that make it so obvious how ossified/overly serious we have become, like trying an sport and realizing you are deeply uncoordinated.
I’m not sure if you’ve read much of him but Alan Watts has some tangentially related essays on how we treat life as *very serious* when it needn’t be. I.e. maybe life isn’t a destination, or a journey. Maybe
It’s a dance.