Wow. What was I thinking when I wrote last week’s blog? Vegetarian during the week of Thanksgiving? The beginning of the week was promising for me because I only had meat once. But when Thursday rolled around I just had to have the traditional turkey (and every day after that, the leftovers on a sandwich). You are truly an amazing challenger if you had the following on Thanksgiving instead of meat:
I encourage you to try Tofurkey. No, it is not a challenge and no, I will not be trying it, but it could help you during this week’s challenge (I’ll explain later). This week’s challenge was inspired by the experience I had at the junior retreat last Monday. The day was full of bonding activities, including creating the Class of 2012’s hand sign! Junior class treasurer Celia O’Flaherty wanted to maintain the feeling of unity among the class, so she encourages everyone to sit at a different lunch table once a week. Therefore, this week’s challenge is to sit at a different lunch table twice this week.
That’s right. I am not only stealing Celia’s challenge, but I am also making it bigger. Two days at a lunch table away from your closest friends will be a great experience for everyone: you and the new people you are going to sit with. To make this challenge more meaningful and worth your while, try the some of the following:
- have some topics you can talk about. There is so much to talk about: tomorrow’s history test, Thanksgiving break, anything! I bet the Tofurkey sandwich would be a great conversation starter’¦
- have one of your close friends come with. By doing this you will maintain some level of comfort and participate more in conversation.
- talk to your new friends outside of the lunchroom. This challenge provides you the perfect opportunity to build new friendships that can last beyond this week. By not confining your friendliness to the lunchroom, your new friendships will hopefully grow as time goes on.
To wrap up this blog, I leave you with this classic Girl Scout song:
Make new friends, but keep the old
One is silver and the other’s gold
A circle is round, it has no end
That’s how long I want to be your friend
So let’s go out this week, make new friends, keep the old, and conquer this challenge. If Girl Scouts can do it, so can we!
