For the past two days, I've been sending messages to about 20 of my different Facebook friends.

Most of these people I haven't spoken to in years.

I travel a lot and change cities and countries every few months. Makes it hard to establish a core group of friends. But still, I met and befriended all these people so I figured I might as well try and nurture some sort of relationship with them.

So the results of this little experiment have been pretty interesting so far. Out of about 40 people that I messaged, quite a few messaged me back. A lot of them right away. So many in fact that I had to turn off my chat in order to finish messaging people.

1. It kills the loneliness inside you

If you're a digital nomad (fuck I hate that term) like me, the hardest part about traveling solo is that sometimes you are lonely. You don't know anyone around you, you're in a strange country and you don't have anyone to do fun things with. It's nice to be able to pop open Facebook and have 10+ messages from people you can talk to.

Hell, even if they're not people who you would be friends with today, so what? Most of our friends in life are people who are in physical proximity to us who we happen to have things in common with AT THAT MOMENT!

So these people were our friends at one time. And now that we're 30 year old lonely Americans, I guess you could say we have things in common again.

2. You might get a new client

If the person responds genuinely, the conversation normally turns to work and you get a chance to pitch whatever gig/idea you're working on.

I have my hands in all kinds of things right now and it's cool to be able to tell people about it. You know, people other than my mom.

3. It's good to reconnect with old friends

As I was messaging people, I came across someone who I used to be very good friends with. Like, I was at his house every day and we went through what I call the "formative years" together.

This person and I had somewhat of a falling out (my fault), and we hadn't really talked since then. Maybe a few times but it was extremely strained. It's been years since we connected.

However, I'm nice and safe in Thailand right now so I figured fuck it, why not? Shot him a quick message saying what's up and got a reply within a minute.

I haven't read the message yet because I've been busy, but it's good to know that if I'm bored or feel the need for human interaction I can have a quality conversation with someone I haven't spoken to in years.

4. You might be able to help someone

Sent a message to a guy that I'd known for years but never really talked to. Hi how are you kinda thing.

Actually, in high school this girl I dated and was OBSESSED ended up dumping me for this guy. I didn't hold it against him - if it wasn't him it would be someone else.

Anyway, he wrote me back saying that he had just gone through a nasty divorce. It seemed like he was writing through a lot of pain.

Not like he asked for it, but I gave him some advice and pointed him in the direction of a certain subreddit that I felt might help him. I know that if he reads that, it will speed up his recovery.

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5. You might make a new friend

I've gathered quite a few "friends" over the years but don't stay in touch with any of them. I have real life friends in whatever physical location I'm at, but as far as "keeping in touch" with old friends that's pretty much non-existent.

And honestly I wouldn't even call these people I'm messaging "friends." You know how it is - you met someone a long time ago and had a good conversation and then you added them on FB. Or you dug up some person you used to know from high school and added them.

I didn't have a chance to really get to know these people. But maybe now I will.

Final Thoughts

I believe that in life, it's not what you know but who you know. Most of us don't put ourselves out there because we're busy, lazy, antisocial or would just rather watch Netflix.

Yet we all want success. We all want a healthy social group of people who are happy to see us. We want our phone to ring off the hook with calls from friends who just want to talk.

But everything in life takes effort and this is no exception.

Will update as I make progress!

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Think this is a great idea?

Think I'm an idiot and wasting my time?

Want to tell me I'm a beautiful and special human being?

Let me know and leave me a comment down below!

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