Readit NewsI didn't tell her to download the app, nor she is a tech-y person, she just did on her own.
I've been trying something very similar to the author's approach for three years now: a casual tech meetup. My results are way worse despite putting hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars into the endeavor.
The people you attract might themselves have no local friends. That's why they're showing up to your meetup! But it also means that they won't help to expand it.
The people you attract might not be alcohol-drinkers. A lot of people who suggest organizing casual meetups usually have a pub in mind as the venue. Bringing 12-15 people to a restaurant takes a lot more planning. Getting 12-15 people to agree on a restaurant that meets their diet and budget needs is, well...
You might attract people who are much younger or much older than you. The average author of this kind of article is 36. Do they like the company of people who are within ±20 years of age from them? And do those people like each other's company?
Long story short, you might end up like me, having invested years of your life and a surprising amount of money, to make 3 casual acquaintances who you're sort-of-but-not-super-friendly with.
I have never had more success trying to cater to different diets, budgets, asking for opinions on restaurants. Organizing a club needs, at least at first, a near totalitarian approach. _You_ pick a nice place, hopefully decently affordable, assume e.g. that everyone will drink and if not the club soda or coke will have to do.
Eventually, the group self-optimizes for the sweet spot in things such as age gap between its members. The ones who don't like the types of places you pick, the tone of the meeting, demography, etc. will drop over time.
Instant improvement in mental clarity and quality of life.
I know a few people that take one of the name brands, and they really don't complain about this issue. What they do talk about is having more energy after dropping weight because they just don't feel compelled to eat much anymore.
I'm not overweight myself, but I am a Type 1 diabetic from a young age. "Sugar noise" is not something that is easy to ignore. Especially in the case where you have excess insulin in your bloodstream but not active enough for your body to use it. Your body will scream at you to eat something sweet/carby. In people that are overweight this can be caused by insulin resistance. Until you experience it, it's really easy to say "People should try", but it's about as easy as telling someone to drop meth or heroin.
My body SCREAMS for me to eat something sweet/carby all fucking day long. All day. Never realized the extent of it until using GLP-1s. I tried many things: full strict diets with macro counting, IF, more lenient and "natural-feeling" diets where you just try to eat whole foods that are filling and tasty. With or without weight lifting, sometimes cardio. Yeah they work, big surprise! But the entire time you are fighting against that urge, doesn't matter if you've gone a full month with perfect "discipline". Eventually it gets you. And I was miserable the entire time trying _not_ to think about food.
This is life changing.
Since finding a fully remote job, I've been going back and forth. I stay one month in my city where I am independent, go out with friends, basically where I live my life.
Then I stay 2-4 full weeks with my folks. I bought new office equipment to work as comfortably as in the city, and nice things to make my space really mine.
It's an interesting cycle that I've learned to accept and enjoy. When I'm with them, I work a bit more because I have less social distractions, I go to the gym every day, and I see them all day. When I go back to my place, I go out with everyone, eat less meat, go to events, and do my regular activities that make me feel myself.
It's a 6 hour cheap trip, which is not bad considering I stay in one place for weeks. It's not perfect, and maybe not permanent, but I can see my folks. Half the year at least, even if they never visit me. They're getting older. If they leave this world today, I will be devastated, but happy that my present self is doing the best it can to be with them.
He told me that he had worked to develop a tool that would replace effectively all of the middle management function that he was responsible for: gathering information from folks below him, distilling it down and reporting that to people above him.
His hope was that he would be retained to maintain the system that he built, knowing that every other manager at his level was going to be terminated.
It felt like watching someone who is about to be executed be responsible for building the gallows. He should’ve been so aware that his job was going to be the first one cut, and he was responsible for building a tool to cut his own job. But he was optimistic that the cuts wouldn’t come for him
Makes me wonder how he’s doing today