Yes, this. I've been frustrated all year by the superficiality of most of my interactions. It's partially circumstance: most of the people I interact with on a daily basis are 10 years younger than me, and a lot of my closer friends live further than is convenient - even my NYC crowd is too far and usually too busy for more than monthly hangout time. :(

Part of it is me, too. I'm fairly shy and tentative about making friends beyond a superficially friendly level, and it's just hard for me to bridge that gap between having a ton of acquaintances and casual friends and having people that I can talk about the big meaningful stuff with. I was starting to think it's part of being an adult - once you're out of college or past the convenient college-age, you don't get to sit around having deep conversations. But maybe it's not impossible; I just need to be braver.

& I decided my word of the year is going to be "balance", because all the other ones I'd considered were about pushing myself, and I've found that I'm pretty good at pushing myself past my limits in a very specific, narrow area... but my health, sanity, and interpersonal relationships suffered. So maybe working on that last part will bring back some much-needed balance. :)

- Michelle