Old Brain - New Brain

Now that I'm single again, I'm thinking about what I should do more and what I should do less of. 

I'm looking at meetup groups I'm in, some that I've never done anything with (hiking with dogs group, runners group), others I've done lots with (beer drinkers group, photography group).  Every group I'm involved with has upcoming activities; a beer meetup happy hour on Friday, a long, hilly dog-hike on Saturday, trail running on Thursdays, or happy hour with the girls, or dance practice followed by dinner. 

Unfortunately, there's too much to do during the week - I have to skip about half of the stuff that's going on (like I have drill at the firehouse on Mondays, so have to skip Monday trailrunning). I wish some of this stuff would move to weekends when I'm wide open.  I'm considering going on a long mountain hike with the dog-hiking group vs going to a happy hour with the beer group.

My old brain is saying, "the hike might be too hard.  I'll be hot and sweaty and 3 hours will be awful if my dog acts up.  The beer happy hours are enjoyable and not much commitment.  I already know the beer people and if I go on the dog hike, I'll have to meet a whole new group of people."

My new brain is saying, "I want to be around healthy, active people.  That will help push me into more activity in my life, and maybe I'll meet a new friend or a new potential partner."

It's likely that I'll wait until there's a shorter hike to introduce my dog to hiking with other people and other dogs.   But I'm glad I'm thinking like this.  It's not enough to find things to do where I can meet new people.  I also have to consider whether these things are going to support the lifestyle I want to be leading; a healthy, active lifestyle where physical activity is part of day-to-day life, not saved for special occasions.