Today, the boys went off for a little day trip with Luke and their grandad, which was great. So I headed to my local gym.

I’ve had a few realisations about myself recently that have made me think, oh, right… perhaps I need to work on that. It’s a funny feeling when you start noticing things you’ve probably been doing for years without ever really questioning them. And then, once you see them, you can’t quite unsee them. There’s a bit of, “Why are you like this? Come on, sort yourself out!” But I’m trying to give myself a bit of patience too. Noticing something doesn’t mean you suddenly know how to change it, even if you’d quite like to have it sorted pretty quickly.

Anyway, I think being around people gets me out of my own head for a while. I like hearing about someone else’s life, having a laugh, finding out how their day is going or just what’s on their mind. I mean, come on, it’s usually far more interesting than listening to myself go round in circles about something I’ve already overthought twelve times.

But put me in a group of people I don’t know, especially when they all know each other, and I can feel pretty awkward. One to one? Yeah, I’m happy with that. A whole group? Ah, now I’m not quite sure how to join in, when to say something or whether I’m somehow interrupting just by sitting there.

Anyway, today my friend invited me to join her and some of her friends. I didn’t know them, and there was that little feeling of awkwardness. That awareness of being the new person, trying to find your place.

And they were just really nice. They included me. They chatted to me. They made me feel welcome. It might have been completely ordinary to them, something they wouldn’t even think about afterwards. But I came away feeling better, and I’ve been thinking about that.

Because when you’re already feeling a bit unsure of yourself, being welcomed makes such a difference. You relax a little. You stop thinking quite so much about yourself and start enjoying the people around you. And before you know it, you’re thinking, oh, I’m really glad I came over.

I know I joke a lot. And yes, sometimes making a joke feels easier than saying something sincere and then sitting there feeling a bit exposed. But I really do notice kindness. I notice when someone takes an interest, brings you into a conversation or makes room for you without making a big thing of it. Those things matter to me.

So, to the people who made me feel welcome today, thank you. You didn’t have to make that effort to include me, but you did. It might have felt like nothing much to you, just chatting and being yourselves, but it made a difference to my day.

And underneath all my waffle, that’s really what I wanted to say. Thank you for being so nice to me today. I really appreciated it, even if I didn’t quite say so at the time. 🩷