In October I wrote about how rewarding it can be to challenge yourself with new opportunities, regardless of the final outcome, especially if you’re afraid to do so. Mostly, I spoke about this in regard to applying for new positions – in my case, I referred to my application for student blogging and attending an interview for University of Leicester’s Miscarriages of Justice Project. However, this can also be applied to social situations.

As something of an introvert, sometimes new social situations can seem daunting. At university, there are endless opportunities to take part in socials and meet new people, but of course, as somewhere where we’re also all supposed to get our degrees and learn, it’s not always easy to find a balance. It can be easy to turn down a lot of social opportunities due to having work to do, but sometimes giving yourself a break to meet new friends, bond with existing friends, or try something new can be surprisingly rewarding, even if at first you feel as though you don’t have time or don’t necessarily know that you’ll enjoy it.

So this week, the Miscarriages of Justice group of the Pro Bono Society arranged ‘compulsory cocktails’ for us to get to know each other a bit better outside of work. Sounds like forced fun that probably won’t be fun, right? It was actually a lot of fun and will undoubtedly make our time working together more enjoyable too. Of course it wasn’t 100% compulsory – some people stuck to mocktails, it was completely relaxed and we could invite friends, and we could come and go when was best for us, and obviously if we really had a reason not to go, it wasn’t forced. It was just nice to have an opportunity to get to know each other, and the ‘compulsory’ aspect of it definitely pushed some of us to go out and end up actually having a really good time. We might even start having weekly socials now.

So, I guess what I’ve learnt from this is that sometimes it’s worth giving yourself a break or pushing yourself to socialise with some new people. When you’re tired from work, spending an evening socialising with new people may not always seem the most appealing, but sometimes you can get a lot more than you have expected from it!