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Time Left

The level of effort it takes to have a vibrant social life is often seen as too high by those of us who generally prefer their solitude. The folks I have been friends with for the longest time are also somewhat reclusive. We are able to give each other plenty of space and our friendship does not need a lot of feed and care. It's much like growing an easy houseplant that can survive being watered only once in a few weeks, not fussed over every day. For people like us, having a group of friends nearby to hang out with on an impromptu occasion is a near impossibility. If ever we feel like it, we have to accept that we never made the needed investment to have it. Solutions like Timeleft might be the hack for the likes of us:

 “A lot of the time with our community members, they've got friends,” Cooke explains. “Their friends just don't live near them, or they’re at a different stage of their life.” She echos the reasoning of my TimeLeft table-mates: “[If] you want someone to call when you've had a bad day and you want to go for a drink, or you've had an amazing day and you want people to celebrate with, those people need to be near you rather than five hours away.”

The description of the community members fits me to the tee. My closest friends are in three different countries. To get the group together would take a year of planning. Last week, things at work were such that I longed to speak with someone who was a relative outsider, and yet could offer perspective on what's going on. Sometimes the best counsel comes from such sources. People too close to the action or biased towards me are not objective enough. A solution like Timeleft might work (or not) based on what the group that has come together for dinner want on that particular evening. If there were a couple of people who need to vent and the others just want to relax and chitchat, chances are it won't work well for anyone specially that its the first time people have come together. On the other hand, if the energy of the group on that particular day is similar, chances of success are much higher. 
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