Early 30s, married, good career in medicine, steadily advancing forward on a pretty traditional life path. Now attempting to navigate work life balance so that life feels a little less grind and a little more fulfilling.

Comfortable; I recently move back to the bay (grew up here) and have been reconnecting with old friends and family. Home life is great, and my swap to less work days has me engaging with more hobbies on my spare time that I've wanted to pursue all my life.

Family, my dog, my work (oddly enough), and my many hobbies

Getting fit and staying that way: I just signed up to do part time with the USAF and need to make sure I don't fail the physicals.

Expanding my social circle: looking for folks lively enough to enjoy some nightlife with, but also still need to get home at a responsible hour because we got crap to do in the morning.

Started flight lessons at the beginning of the year and started learning a ton about private and commercial aviation.

I’m a man in my early 30s. My girlfriend and I live in the South Bay, and I work up in San Francisco for work/living (and am eager to meet/connect with people in either!).

I had a pretty active social life prior to COVID, and kept up with my closest friends during the pandemic, but I really lost some momentum on the broader social side of things. I’d like to change this! Some things I really like: deep conversations and talking about big ideas, completely meaningless conversations, goofing around/being at play, learning and trying new things, being outdoors, board games, seeing shows/movies/performances.

It’s alright! I have a lot to be thankful for, although I’ve been known to feel a bit lost and/or lonely some days. I’m not currently finding a lot of fulfillment in my career at a big tech company, although I’m really engaged in my hobbies at the moment (creative writing, improv), and I’m trying to figure out how to make it all work.

Hobbies—I’m really interested in storytelling, and it’s something I want to get better at and have been thinking a lot. I love a great story (in movies, books, plays, whatever) and am trying to learn how to create some myself. I try to consume a lot of stories (I read a lot and try to watch at least a movie/week), and as far as creation goes I’m starting with short stories and a bit of improv for now, but who knows where this will go.

Exercise also goes a really long way for me—I’ve been a casual runner for a long time (I love trail running!), and recently started doing some barbell training. I’m an amateur at both and plan on keeping it that way, but they do wonders for my stress/mental health.

Finding more purpose/direction in my life, and making/deepening friendships.

1. Birkenstock Sandals apparently used to sell a skincare line (!!!), but discontinued it

2. Jack Handey will write you funny/nice notes if you buy books from his website (or at least, he did for me)

Recently got laid off from work so my days are currently free and unstructured as I plan my next move.

I spend a lot of my days drinking tea, vegging out on my couch with book in hand, eating delicious things, taking photos of beautiful things, and being obsessed with an orange cat on the internet named Jorts.

Surviving the chaos, you know how it is! Me and my plants.

I got back into gardening after a long hiatus, and I am officially in my grandma/cottage core era. I can't believe how much I miss it. Playing with dirt and soil feels so primal that it teleports me straight back to my childhood.

It's definitely not a career, or family, but real connections. I want to cultivate deep and fulfilling relationships, but unfortunately this has been difficult to achieve for the same reasons why it's hard to make friends post college.

Anything I recently found interesting?

Around the Corner! Love the concept.

Happy in San Francisco, but most of my close friends have left. I’d like to get out of my bubble of loose friends, and develop some deeper friendships with people who live very close, where we can have more spontaneous dinners / hangouts

Overall, quite good. I'm in the midst of job searching which has been hectic, but I think I'm finally coming to the tail end of it. I would like to be spending more time on my physical therapy and am optimistic that once the job search settles I'll be able to do that and heal my body...as well as have some more time to try rebuild my community in SF

Fitness & Outdoors: Tennis, pickleball, yoga, gym, walks in parks, hiking, skiing Indoor stuffs: Reading, writing, board/card games, eating (out :))

Mostly tennis though!

Meeting new, interesting people, and especially ones who live close to me, and/or play tennis!

I’ve gotten super sucked into the world of Cosmere (Brandon Sanderson fictional book saga )

I just turned 30 recently and moved to this city from a far away, northern land. I feel deeply entrenched in my work life but desperate to experience what this city's soul is really like. I'm a little confused and conflicted, determined but directionless, and cold-footed yet brave. In a mid-season and sitcom-y fashion I'm redefining myself a little. Trying a bit of everything right now.

Unnecessarily filled with busywork and endless comparisons. It lacks a bit of grounding but generally by all conventional metrics it's pretty good. I'm technically in a good place but there's a lopsided balance skewing towards work right now. I travel a lot and meet great people, I get to try a lot of new things that are fun and weird, and I have time in the mornings to make french omelettes. I plan silly things with equally silly people and it keeps me happy.

Finding the time to laugh, keeping up with old friends, and diving into new, random hobbies. For example I had a niche perfumery phase just recently and am on the cusp of entering my 'building model kits' phase. I also take long walks and go to smaller venue rave shows where I can headbang and lose myself in the music a little. During bad weeks I'll be tied to the couch binge watching TV and eating salty foods. I need places to be anonymous sometimes so I can fade into the background comfortably.

Defining things. I don't like that it's what's most important to me right now, but it's just what I keep coming back to. I recently also had a revived appreciation for my family and relationships so I've been thinking more long term in terms of how I want my life to look. Otherwise, I think unapologetic authenticity is what I'm trying to strive towards. I would very much like that.

The National Havoc Robot League (NHRL) hosts an annual world championship in Norwalk, CT and tickets are actually pretty reasonably priced.

I’m in my early fifties, work from home as a writer (fiction and nonfiction), and run a small publishing business and podcast with my partner. We moved to the Bay Area during the pandemic for work and meeting people hasn’t been the easiest thing but I love the weather and natural beauty here.

Overall, better than I could have ever imagined. Far from perfect but generally fulfilling and meaningful. I miss having lots of close friends nearby to do things on a whim. Most of our friends are back where we moved from or scattered across the world.

Writing. I mean writers write. But also having big goals and dreams still. Things to look forward to. And our cats. Working from home would be lonely business without my boss walking across the keyboard every few minutes.

Connecting. Making sense of things. Not getting in a rut or bubble that echoes back the same thoughts and ideas at me. Learning something every day.

So many things. I’m interested in foraging but nervous to try it beyond my back yard. I really want to learn to do small water color sketches of plants.

I'm a female immigrant who moved to the Bay Area in 2015. I'm currently well established in my career but since I moved here I've struggled with making new friends. I'm currently working on myself and trying to improve my social skills.

My daily life routine revolves around working, going to the gym, taking painting classes, and taking care of my cats and plants. Whenever possible, I like to do outdoor stuff like camping and hiking.

Going to the gym and keeping in contact with nature (hiking, camping, offroading)

Strengthening my current friendships and improving my social life. After a bad breakup, I woke up to the fact that I was neglecting my friends, who are not that many since I didn't grow up in the US.

This Reddit post, which brought me here: https://www.reddit.com/r/bayarea/comments/1alecrf/talking_to_strangers_for_12_months_connecting/ OP's story is very similar to my story and I'm feeling very inspired by their post.