Minutiæ

Susan Alan-Wenswick is a pro­lific Life Spe­cial­ist, work­ing in the metro Miami area. She has writ­ten sev­eral books, includ­ing most recently You Are the Cham­pion: How to Empower Your­self in a Chang­ing World.

I just moved to a new town and don’t know any­one. What’s the best way to meet peo­ple and make new friends?

Don’t worry—it seems harder than it is to meet poten­tial new friends (and sin­gle men) in your area.
The eas­i­est way is to try new hob­bies! You could join an intra­mural sports team, take tango lessons, or take an art class. There’s noth­ing bet­ter to fill empty shelves in a new condo than your own pot­tery. Hav­ing com­mon inter­ests makes con­ver­sa­tions – and rela­tion­ships – easy to start.

I just turned 40 and I’ve been feel­ing really down about myself. I feel like I’ve done noth­ing with my life. What advice do you have for some­one in my position?

Remem­ber that you are your own grain of sand in the great beach of the uni­verse. You are just as impor­tant as your boss, your neigh­bors, or your ex-husband’s new wife.
When I’m not feel­ing my best, I like to work on my Vision Board (See Chap­ter 16 of my book Win­ning Alone). I go through my old copies of Marie Claire and USA Today and cut out pic­tures that rep­re­sent the future I want to have. I paste them on my bul­letin board and just sit back, look­ing at the great years that are yet to come!

Speak­ing of your future plans, I hear you’re going to lead a local Girl Scout Troop.

I guess good news trav­els fast! Indeed, a few months ago I sub­mit­ted my appli­ca­tion to the­Girl Scouts of Amer­ica Coun­cil of Trop­i­cal Florida, Inc. I haven’t heard back yet — the coun­cil and I have been play­ing a never end­ing game of phone tag — but I’m fully con­fi­dent that very soon I will be help­ing girls to achieve their full potential!

That’s weird, because one of my friends heard back a few days after she applied.

Well, your friend must have had some sort of “in” with the coun­cil. I’m overqual­i­fied if any­thing! I’m sure it’s just taken them four months to find the per­fect spot for me.
But, you’re right, it is weird that no one has acknowl­edged my calls, emails, or Edi­ble Arrange­ments… I can’t argue with you there. But, come on, we’re all busy, right?
There’s no way they would reject me. I’m a catch by anyone’s stan­dards. I have so much time to com­mit to those girls. To teach them not to make the same mis­takes I did, like drink­ing schnapps at prom or mar­ry­ing too young. I’m a pub­lished author, for cry­ing out loud! Some­one at the Girl Scout Coun­cil should be read­ing this, because I am a catch!
Seri­ously, though, if you are read­ing this, call me back. My number’s on those embroi­dered goose feather pil­lows I sent you in January. ✦