Also known as: On saying “Yes”
I started blogging about books last year in an effort to separate my posts about books from my personal blog. As a result, I also started tinkering with my Goodreads account more than the usual. After an online encounter with another Filipino book blogger through a meme I participated in, I saw that she was active at one of the Goodreads groups I had been lurking in for a while (more than a year) now. Because I felt the need to socialize then, I decided to drop in and say hi and try to make new friends.
A couple of weeks later, after posting on some of the threads and reviews with new Goodreads friends, I received an invite to the group’s second meet up. I had several reasons to say decline the invite:
- It was in a part of the city that I hardly know.
- I don’t know anyone there. Except for those exchanges online, I have no idea who they were.
- It was a rainy week, and I’ve been recovering from asthma.
- It was far. And I didn’t know anyone. Oh, wait, I said that already.
But after some thinking, researching and delaying (okay, it was only an hour of delay, but really), I said yes to the invite. I could always back out before it and give some kind of excuse you know. Then I got a reply where the sender said, “You are one of those I want to see in person! Wow! Finally, I will meet the person behind all those nice book reviews!”
Well, how could I still say no to that? :-s
So the meet-up came and gone and you know what? It was one of the best decisions I made last year. I met really good friends who share the same passion for books and reading as I do, and we even go out and do other non-reading-related stuff. They’re some of the best people I know and was I ever so glad that I said yes to that invite.
Imagine if I said no. I wonder how my life would have been today.
