One of my 2016 goals is to be generous in showing hospitality to others. This may not seem like too lofty of a goal, but as a lifelong introvert, I frequently fall into the habit of waiting to be invited out or included, rather than being the one to initiate an opportunity for a relationship to grow. And I want to change that! Dave and I have been so blessed to meet some wonderful people in North Carolina, and to have amazing friendships around the country from childhood through college. By the end of this year, I would love to know that I put in the work to make ALL of those friendships stronger.
Leslee Mitchell via 100 Layer Cake
To keep myself accountable to this goal, I decided to make a “hospitality bucket list” for 2016 that includes a bunch of mini challenges for myself. Some are small and relatively easy (have a FaceTime coffee date with a long distance friend), while others make me pretty nervous (host a Blessed Brunch this fall). Big or small, I know that making the effort to put in the time and and push past any nerves I may have is going to be worth it, so here’s what I came up with!
I hope that this is just a starting point–I’ll keep y’all posted on my progress throughout the year! And I would love to know, what are your favorite ways to show hospitality to others? Is there anything on your hospitality bucket list this year?
This is awesome. I, too, am an introvert and it’s been so hard to keep up with friendships now than it was in college and everyone lived close by! I’m trying to do better with hanging out with friends this year as well!
Love this so much! :)
Love this! These are all great, doable ideas. :) Especially love the Blessed Brunch. I met some awesome Catholic ladies when I hosted ours. We are doing another meet up soon too. Bringing food to a new mom is SO HELPFUL and will be much appreciated too.
I wish I could come to yours! If you have any tips for Blessed Brunch hosting, I’m all ears :)
These sound fun! I’ll be reaching out to people constantly in order to start making friends in my new city! So if you need extrovert advice, I can help you out :)
#1 tip for making friends: share your snacks :) Words to live by!
What a wonderful list, Lisa! I love hosting people; especially for cooking nights, brunch (my favorite!) and holiday events. I can’t wait to be back home in Germany and get hosting again ;-)
Hosting a cooking night sounds like so much fun!
What great ideas! I am also a fellow introvert, however I would love to find opportunities to meet more friends in my new(ish) city!
Let me know if you try any of these ideas…or if you come up with anything I should add to my list! :)
I love this! And I think you’ve already checked off at least one item very successfully :)
I’m so glad! I promise I didn’t include that just so I could already cross one off, haha! :)
I will attend girls night!!! This is a nice list.
Yes please! <3
I love your list! I think I do pretty well with keeping up with long-distance friends, but have struggled with making close-by friends in my new town (complicated by the fact that I too am an introvert, and that we plan to move within the next year or so). I’m excited to see how your ideas work for you, and to try a few of them myself!
Thanks, Kate! I know it was always hard for me to motivate myself to get out there and meet people if I wasn’t going to be in one place for long, so I’m cheering you on extra in that :)
I love this idea! I’m an introvert too, and even though I can be social around others, it’s hard for me to make the first move. I also love that you included ideas for married and single girls! So inspired by this, and can’t wait to see your future posts about checking them off!
[…] week. (Imperfectly, but still counting this a win) 4. Write my hospitality bucket list. (Find it here!) 5. Finish and launch the Something Pretty […]