Monday, March 03, 2008

Let's Get to Know Each Other

I don't know about you, but I'm a bit burnt out. I'm sick of the same conversation and feel like I should carry around a one page resume saying where I'm from, which college I attended, what I do for work and what my 3 month outlook/plan is. Lately, I've missed the comfort of old friends and being able to sit in silence without it feeling awkward. Although I'm excited for business school, I hope my summer travels will put me in a better mindset when I get there. I was thinking about all the people I've met through soccer, Spinsters, MBA related events, friends, family, work and vacations and wonder how I keep them all straight. Perhaps the secret is, I don't, though I try my very best.

I read something once about Dunbar's number, which is approximately 150, and "represents a theorized cognitive limit to the number of individuals with whom any one person can maintain stable social relationships, the kind of relationships that go with knowing who each person is and how each person relates socially to every other person." This may be the reason I feel I'm on overload. I try to stay connected with far too many people. I likely meet AT LEAST 150 people a year through various means and when I say meet, I simply meet introduced via another relation or on my own. Don't get me wrong, I love people and love meeting new ones, but I think I've been spending more time doing that than balancing the current relationships I've built over the last several months and years. There again, I may simply have too much on my plate and not enough relax time, which could cause me to be a wee bit introverted with strangers. However, I would never describe myself as introverted on a normal day.

4 comments:

matt said...

this doesn't help...but that's the kind of conversation you're going to have the first two months of b-school, so at least you're prepared. ;)

Of course, you've offered advice to me on this front, so I imagine you'll be ready to transition sooner than later...and trust me, Darden (and Ross) need some folks to spice it up a bit.

Mo Zhou said...

Paige, party up!! :P party for those of us can't party yet! I think the travel will re-center you and give you a purpose of life bigger than MBA, next year you'll be all ready.

adekku said...

Hi Paige,

Love the blog's new look. Clean and bright!

Anonymous said...

I remember having exactly the same thoughts a couple of months into school... In every conversation I had to restate where I'm from, what I did before Darden, and what I'm looking to do after... I'm happy to say we're finally past that though!