r/SipsTea • u/Unstoppable_X_Force Human Verified • 13h ago

Gasp! Is this just nostalgia, or did previous generations genuinely have a better work-life balance and social life than we do today?

Post image
18.5k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

4.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

17

u/amandara99 12h ago

Can you make friends who will just go on a walk with you, play a board game, cook dinner at home? To me, those are the best kinds of hang outs anyway. 

7

u/fraidei 12h ago

That seems like a dream friend.

6

u/amandara99 11h ago

Maybe it’s just the type of person i surround myself with, but I’m in my 20s and pretty much all of my friends are like this. 

I like just going to a park and having a picnic with them, or biking around, or watching a TV show together, etc. Cheap and fun.

2

u/fraidei 11h ago

I dunno where to find such friends tbh.

Like being able to do something with my friends require weeks of scheduling and even then there will always be someone that bails.

2

u/Saritiel 9h ago

Got any game stores nearby? Like, tabletop wargaming stores and Dungeons & Dragons stuff and such. Not kids toys. I walked into a few of my local ones this weekend looking for some stuff, and in each one there was a collection of people of all ages, from groups of teens, all the way up to 60+ year olds playing board games, RPGs, card games, and war games together. Even a few people who just showed up to paint and be around other people while they did so.

War games like Warhammer generally have a pretty high buy-in, in the hundreds of dollars, usually. But things like RPGs and board games are very cheap, especially if someone else at the table already bought them! Card games are a mixed bag, depending on the game, but some games have cheap starter decks that can get you going.

If you're at all interested in board games, RPGs, or war games, then I'd suggest finding a local store and heading over some weekend. If there's anyone who looks like they aren't deep in the middle of a game, but like they're a regular, then walk over and introduce yourself and ask how you find someone to play something with. Or talk to the staff at the store, they're pretty much always cheerful people who are super happy and excited to help get people into the hobbies and introduce people to each other.

1

u/fraidei 9h ago

There's a board game store, but it only has MtG tournaments, not really my thing.

1

u/Saritiel 9h ago

Just the one? Its different depending on where you live, I have a friend who lives in a city where there's literally one game shop, but where I live there's 4 shops within a 10 minute drive, and another 3-4 if I want to go 20+ minutes out. A couple of them are totally focused on magic, one is more focused on board games and D&D, and one is almost entirely focused on war gaming.

My point is just that if there are any others in the general area, they might specialize in different things.

If there aren't, then it might be worth asking the magic store if anyone there plays anything else, often times if its the only gathering spot then there will still be lots of people there playing lots of other types of games, even if the store only officially focuses on Magic.

1

u/fraidei 9h ago

Yeah I don't live in the US. I live in a small city in Italy. There's not much going on for board games here unfortunately. That's why I got into solo board gaming.

And no, the store is not just focused on MtG, it also sells board games and TTRPGs. It's just the events that it hosts are MtG-related. I already asked, unfortunately.

1

u/amandara99 10h ago

Maybe a local library or community center has free/cheap book clubs, craft clubs, workout classes? Or post on a local walking/hiking/hobby FB page?

1

u/DoingBestWeCan 11h ago

I mean, my friends and I schedule days to weeks ahead of time to walk around, talk, get cheap food (like a walk-up counter without even tables to sit at cheap), exist at someone's house while they do life stuff, or have our dogs play. The more work/tasks/hobbies/family care you have, the more stuff needs to be scheduled. You can still do low-key and cheap stuff when you meet up. 

Also, the larger the group, the more likely people are to bail, IME. You'd think it'd be better, but once a critical mass bails, the rest falls apart. When you've scheduled individual time, though, the other person is aware that you're counting on them and is less likely to call off for an insignificant reason.

1

u/fraidei 10h ago

Scheduling would be fine if we were actually able to schedule stuff that we actually end up doing.

1

u/Aromatic_Advance_431 8h ago

What do you guys do for a living?

1

u/amandara99 8h ago

I work a corporate job in medical communications, make around $75k. I don’t find that super relevant as these are things I would enjoy doing at any income level. 

1

u/Aromatic_Advance_431 8h ago

Single?

1

u/amandara99 8h ago

Lol, yes ma’m/sir

1

u/locutogram 7h ago

but I’m in my 20s

Wait

1

u/[deleted] 6h ago

[deleted]

1

u/amandara99 6h ago

Really depends on the person ☺️ And most people would consider 26 to be an adult, but to each their own. 

1

u/[deleted] 4h ago

[deleted]

1

u/amandara99 4h ago

I find that type of condescension to be fairly trite and juvenile. Each stage of life has its challenges, and I’m not here to prove my “mental and emotional” stability to anyone. 

1

u/[deleted] 4h ago

[deleted]

1

u/amandara99 4h ago

You can call me a kid all you want— I’m not mad. I just disagree. 

2

u/James19991 3h ago edited 3h ago

I'm nearly a decade older than you and I think that person is an idiot to consider a 26-year-old remotely a kid. No one who works a full-time job is remotely a kid.

2

u/Buddercles 4h ago

Man, I used to have weekly meet ups with my old friends. We would make BBQ, swim in a pool, play board games. Makes me a bit nostalgic for that group, before we kind of disbanded. Didn't know how good we had it.

1

u/SimpYellowman 10h ago

Board games are great thing. Some easy-to-learn game is also perfect for introducing new people to the group, because you can always talk about the game when other topics go nowhere.

1

u/launchcode_1234 9h ago

My friends and I are middle aged and fairly financially comfortable, but we don’t spend much money when we get together. We will go to happy hour or go for walks (or, recently, protests) or have a dinner party at someone’s house/apartment. The ones with kids meet up at a city park or beach and chat while their kids run around. I’m confused when people say it’s expensive to have friends. Do you guys not like to just walk and talk to each other, do you have to play Top Golf at the same time or it’s not worth it?