Joining

An American in Switzerland

~ a weekly reflection about change

Welcome back to an ongoing series of weekly reflections on the tiny shifts that change everything

A story I’ve been telling myself is I have no close friends who live nearby because I’m always moving around. Feeling comfortable and connected on a recent Bike Switzerland club ride, it occurred to me the real reason may be I’ve been looking in all the wrong places. When I think about, I’ve been looking for new friends like I shop for sports equipment or might select from a police lineup. Will I like them? Do they like to ski and ride and do other things I like to do at about the same level? Do they go out and ski and ride or just talk about? The list goes on and gets less flattering as it does. No wonder so few make it through the selection process! I guess that’s why I’ve never been attracted to joining any clubs and have actively avoided them—how could a whole group of people possibly meet my selection criteria? I started riding with this club on the recommendation of the shop owners who sponsor the club and have been so friendly and kind to Hannah and me. We did our first ride with the club on a golden Thursday evening, loved the ride and liked the people, and have gone back for more ever since.

In the past, looking for just the right person or the right bunch to do things with often left me doing them alone. Chatting around a water fountain with my newfound friends on a ride last week, I realized that friendship is grown not found. In the future, I think I’ll look for folks to join who are doing something that sounds fun and worry about whether I like them later. If you think you might be looking for what you want in all the wrong places, take advantage of one or both discounted sessions I'm offering between August 29 through September 2. If you’d like to explore one-on-one coaching, please schedule a time to connect here. I hope you find these newsletters enjoyable and useful. I'm always learning, so I welcome any feedback. If you would like to stop receiving them for whatever reason, simply unsubscribe below. Thank you for reading! Steve Hindman steve@stevehindmancoach.com +41 (0)79 796 08 97 Expand Your Experience! Au revoir for now!