Unfamiliar Situation

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

So I'm in a bit of an unfamiliar situation currently. I believe that I mentioned on here, but I recently started a new job that is taking a lot of my time. This means that I've been spending a lot of time with coworkers who do not practice any sort of martial art, and not being able to see my friends who do, outside of class. Since middle school, the majority of my friends at any given time have been into one martial art or another, even if it's not my own, and we'd spend half our time talking about them. Now I'm suddenly in the situation where none of the people I see most often practice or have any interest in MA.

I don't have any issue talking to them or anything like that, but I'm finding myself missing my MA 'fix'. This site helps some but its not the same as in person. Considering that my schedule runs contrary to most of my friends (they work 9 to 5, I work nights), does anyone have some suggestions for how I can get that 'fix' again?

 

[Steve]

You can record one half of a conversation at home on your ipad, and then respond to it while at work, so that people think you're skyping your identical twin.

You asked for suggestions.... you didn't say that they have to be good ones.

 

[Flying Crane]

This is called "having a job."

Unless you are a trust fund kid, I suggest you get used to it. It's a reality of life.

 

[Ironbear24]

Maybe try and get your coworkers interested in martial arts? It can also lead them to try your dojo out, who knows it might lead to new friendships.

 

[ShawnP]

i would personally think you would be looking for just this kind of situation, always being in the same routine all the time can get boring, and maybe cause yo to have bad habits, like not having friends who are NOT in the MAs. mix it p a bit, Spice is the key to life, so they say. if you didn't miss your old friends then seeing them again would be boring, you know that old saying about sweet isn't so sweet unless you've tasted sour...Ok some one help me out here, i had to reach for that one! you get my meaning though?

P.S. my "U" button is driving me NUTZ!!!!

 

[jks9199]

This is called "having a job."

Unless you are a trust fund kid, I suggest you get used to it. It's a reality of life.

And growing up, too...

That said, you might be surprised at who does have some interest, if you give them time to get to know you and don't bombard them with martial arts talk...

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

This is called "having a job."

Unless you are a trust fund kid, I suggest you get used to it. It's a reality of life.

This is not my first job, and I have dealt with situations where no one around me cares about MA in the past. The thing for me is simply that I am awake while my MA friends are all asleep and vice versa, so have no one to talk to regarding it.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

Maybe try and get your coworkers interested in martial arts? It can also lead them to try your dojo out, who knows it might lead to new friendships.

I could do this, but most of them have the same reaction if I mention MA as they might if I mention guns or if I were to inform them that I am a libertarian (AKA not a good reaction). Otherwise I would definitely do that

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

i would personally think you would be looking for just this kind of situation, always being in the same routine all the time can get boring, and maybe cause yo to have bad habits, like not having friends who are NOT in the MAs. mix it p a bit, Spice is the key to life, so they say. if you didn't miss your old friends then seeing them again would be boring, you know that old saying about sweet isn't so sweet unless you've tasted sour...Ok some one help me out here, i had to reach for that one! you get my meaning though?

P.S. my "U" button is driving me NUTZ!!!!

I may have misled with the OP..while most of my friends have been involved in some MA, I've also had plenty who were completely disinterested in them, including my old job. My issue isn't being around people who dislike it, it's not being around anyone who is.

In regards to your second statement/metaphor, thats a very good way to look at it, thanks!

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

That said, you might be surprised at who does have some interest, if you give them time to get to know you and don't bombard them with martial arts talk...

Unfortunately, they are all very judgmental about anything that they perceive as 'violent'. Pretty ironic to me considering that they are all mental health professionals, and state repeatedly that you have to be nonjudgmental towards everyone/everything.

 

[Rayrob]

If you are that bothered then you are welcome to the job I was doing, for one reason and another up until last year.

I worked as a night driver for a cab company based in Lewisham, South East London. The pay isn't up to much but you will get as much martial arts as you want, on a practical level that is. As a bonus you can have a chat about your exploits with the local constabulary until the early hours of the morning, lol.

 

[drop bear]

Maybe try and get your coworkers interested in martial arts? It can also lead them to try your dojo out, who knows it might lead to new friendships.

If they are not interested talking martial arts can make you the most boring person in the world.

 

[Rayrob]

If they are not interested talking martial arts can make you the most boring person in the world.

As a fisherman I would beg to differ, we can make people's eyes glaze over without even trying.

 

[Tez3]

As a fisherman I would beg to differ, we can make people's eyes glaze over without even trying.

LOL, I worked shifts for well over twenty years and had a variety of shift partners, one was a fisherman. At three o'clock on a slow moving shift one didn't neeed to hear about his fishing exploits! We worked a 12 hour two day on, two nights on pattern with four days off, on one last nightshift he'd put his box of maggots in the fridge as he usually went fishing at soon as we went off shift but he'd forgotten to take them this one time. Two days later he got a call from the shift that was on, his maggots had turned into huge flies and were now infesting the office. Very unhappy people lol.

 

[Tony Dismukes]

When I want to talk martial arts with friends I either do it with my training partners before/after class or online. Most other people aren't interested. They certainly aren't interested in talking about it to the extent that I am.

That's okay. It's good to not be one-dimensional. There are a lot of other interesting topics to talk with people about.

 

[IceStorm]

i was in the same boat for a while
computers are my life, i love to build, mod and talk about them all the time, when i had my first non computer job it was one hell of a culture shock, i found it really hard to bond with the others that worked there (it was a mix of single mums and older ladies) only 2 guys worked there and he never spoke, so for about a year i learnt about TV soaps and what famous person was dating some other person etc etc
they were never going to be interested in computers like i was, my "fix" was normally lots of forums watching vids, sneak in the topic within their interest and slowly guide them into the world, i never got far but by the end of the year most of them had bought laptops sadly the place shut down so i was only there a year
on the other side when i was working at a computer support job one of the people there used to practice MMA, none of us would ever talk about it as computers always held top vote but after a few years of him bringing it up, inviting people out to watch him etc he did get 3 others to join him and it soon became a common thing to talk about, as above when you get to know people those worth knowing want to get to know you too and you take interest in your interests, for example on fancy dress days for charity he would come in fully kitted out and show off some nun chuck skills
some people think of MA as violent but try and show them another side (granted iv not done any but i don't think of it as having to be violent) from what we saw from him was more of an interesting subject matter with some fun,

 

[pgsmith]

To the original poster ... I can't help you with your issues. However, I would like to point out that you got quite a bit of the advice that you asked for from various people. Your response to that advice was to argue with what they said rather than think about how it might be able to help you. Perhaps that's a bit of insight into why you feel like you are having problems?

Just my opinion.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

To the original poster ... I can't help you with your issues. However, I would like to point out that you got quite a bit of the advice that you asked for from various people. Your response to that advice was to argue with what they said rather than think about how it might be able to help you. Perhaps that's a bit of insight into why you feel like you are having problems?

Just my opinion.

I wasn't intending to argue with any of that. I was just stating the difficulty with following some of their advice to see if there was any other advice. I also realize that it's a difficult problem to give advice which is why I was asking on here.
As a side note, I am not having problems conversing with any of them like I've stated, just with not conversing with the other people as much.