Staying in touch

[gement]

The most important thing I got out of Tuesdays with Morrie was the idea of staying in touch with people you care about, which I am phenomenally bad at. I mean, really bad at it.

I got a wedding invitation, months ago, from a friend getting married in Ireland, this weekend. I still haven't replied, despite her asking very clearly for a reply, despite the return address, despite the inclusion of an e-mail address (which I already had memorized). Despite the fact she asked me to sing at her wedding.

Obviously, I can't swing a trip to Ireland right now. It's just not in my priorities. But a reply? What's wrong with me?

I have a friend with cancer who would be delighted if I could just get off my duff far enough to call her once a week. Once a freakin' week. I've called her maybe three times in the last six months.

I'm even worse about people whose contact info I can't keep track of, which is most of them. I have an e-mail address from my college, which I was pleased to see would last forever, so I could keep all my archives, and I wouldn't lose contact with people who didn't have any other means of contacting me.

I haven't checked that account in a year. I still have it. It just feels like too much hassle to check it. Too much hassle to talk to the people I most care about. WTF?

People who stay in good touch with their loved ones, and especially those of you who have had to learn the skill... Help me. Please.

Comments

[capnexposition.livejournal.com]

As someone who also has a hard time doing things I probably should, I find scheduling time helps. I schedule a small portion of every day for answering my various correspondance with people, modifying the schedule week by week if need be. I'm not saying you should do this daily, but I'm willing to bet that putting a half an hour or an hour aside one day a week to correspond with people by e-mail, maybe a half hour or hour another day to call people, etc, would help. It helps me.

[gement.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I think scheduling an appointment with myself to do that would probably help a great deal.