Thirteen

06| How To: Survive Parties

Merry Christmas everyone! I'm writing this at 12 am in the morning while listening to All I want for Christmas is You :P. I hope you enjoy.

Today, as you may have guessed, I'll be talking about how to survive parties. One may think that parties are fun for everyone, but I object to your honor!

As Alessia Cara sang in her song My Kind, "My kind of time's meant to carelessly spend and my kind of nights are the ones that don't end, my kind of fun doesn't make any sense."

I like to spend my time in numerous ways, I may want to watch youtube videos, or hang out with close friends, or laughing with family. But, I feel really awkward and cramped at parties. I'm surrounded by so many people that I don't feel comfortable enough to be myself.

Recently I went to a holiday social/ Christmas party for one of the programs I'm in and it happened to start an hour after I got out of school. As an introvert, after school, I like to relax and be alone after being around so many people for hours, so this party conflicted with my time "recharging" after school.

Initially, I had a flight or fight response and I wanted to call out sick and not attend the party,

BUT!

Since I signed up to attend the party the program coordinators stated that it was now mandatory to attend. I was now faced with a conflict. To be or not to be, to go or not to go. I decided that I would go and try to have fun, and plus my parents really wanted to go because it was one of those semi fancy-schmancy parties.

I arrived at the party with my parents and I walked into a huge room decorated with disco balls and things of that nature. I sat at a table with my parents as I was waiting for my friend to arrive. All of a sudden, the financial advisor of the program announced that adults and students would be going to separate rooms.

I internally gasped!

My friend wasn't here yet, and I knew other people there but I don't really talk to them very much if that makes sense. What was I going to do?

I walked into the room designated for students, my eyes instantly glazed over the delicious food. I felt a pang of relief. I walked up to the table garnished with food and chose some food to eat. I chose meatballs, pineapples, cake pops, and chicken tenders.

Now I faced with another decision!

Where do I sit while I wait for my friend? I didn't want to be the one person that stands in a corner with a plate of food at a party, so I sat at a table where there were fellow students that were either on their phone on waiting for their friend.

Unantipatedly, I felt a sudden urge to be social, so I made small talk with a girl sitting next to me. This lasted for a few minutes, but eventually, her friend came and they started talking.

Disclaimer, normally talking to a person that you may not necessarily know but someone who looks nice at a social event may work out for the better and can lead to you having a buddy for the night. I've personally had experiences where I've talked to someone at school in a class where I didn't know anyone and we became friends. At the holiday social party, I could've continued chatting, so the strategy of talking to someone that looks nice will more than likely work for you, so don't be discouraged.

Now, I was all alone! As Celine Dion would say, "I was allllllll byyy myselfffff!" Being alone is not a bad thing but when you're surrounded by people that you don't necessarily know, it becomes awkward to be alone. Also, this may sound silly, but sometimes I start overthinking when I'm alone, and wonder what I look like to others, and worry if I look lonely. When I worry if I look lonely that's when I actually begin to look lonely. I'm sure that I was actually beginning to look lonely, and on top of that, I was bored. So, I did what a teenager does best I whipped out my phone! :P.

I began playing games on my phone for maybe 5-10 minutes. This gave me something to occupy my time with. Looking back at the situation, I could've danced, but I really only "dance" in my room when I'm alone, and by dancing I mean flailing my arms around to a Kpop song.

Then,

my friend arrived!

We were basically just walking around because we knew people there, but we didn't see people that we typically talk to.  We even walked into the room designated for parents, and I saw my parents, along with other parents dancing :). They were playing older songs from the '90s and doing extinct (cringy) parent moves.

We also saw someone from our level and asked them if we could hang out with them because we didn't know many people at the holiday social.

The point is that even though we weren't necessarily dancing we were having fun by literally walking around.

If you ask me how to survive a party I would say:

1. Grab a plate of food- food is amaaazing!

2. Talk to someone who looks nice- you may meet a new friend

3. If you have a friend there walk around- It's better to be awkward together than to be awkward alone lol!

4. Don't worry about what others think of you- Think about how to have fun and achieve happiness!

5. (optional) Watch your parent(s) do cringy dance moves!- Your eyes may not recover, but your camera will!

If you're at a party, including a non-school related party and you feel uncomfortable then it is okay to leave. Try calling your parent(s), a guardian, or a friend. I'm sure that your parent(s) or anyone would rather pick you up from a party than to see something happen to you. Be safe and trust your instincts!

Adios amigos! ~Peace, love, and happiness!