Something I've learned to appreciate is that we need to learn how to be kind to one another and really take in another individual. By this, I mean taking the time to learn from other people's experiences and really understand how some people grow up. I think it's very easy for us to forget that some people really have it more difficult than others. We really judge people by the superficial things and not by how someone really comes out. I think this is a very easy task but since we really hide behind social media and our blue screens.

I think also when being at school, rather than sitting by yourself in the first day of class, you should be able to connect and ask someone just a simple question of "how are you doing today?" or "how was your break or summer?" I sometimes say that I will do this but you know it's very difficult to try and connect with someone new. You really don't know if people are in the situation of wanting to meet new people. So, how do you know if you should make the first move and try and build a relationship with a person?

I'm going to give an example of a time that I was successful in meeting someone new and build an actual friendship. I'm involved in a summer music program and get to travel sitting on a charter bus and pick a person who I will sit with for the rest of the summer. My first summer I went in not knowing a lot of people, and the friends that I did know already had picked who they were going to sit with. So, it was basically my task to figure out who I was going to pick as my "seat partner." I ended up picking someone who I didn't know who ended up being one of my closet's friends.

The best way that we can learn to accept and develop relationships with other people is just by taking the first step and I know this can be difficult. For many people, the idea of being vulnerable and adding another person into your life not knowing if they will be a long-lasting friendship or if they will be just going to stop by. But that's what building relationships are all about.

I do also understand that we live in a time where most people would say that they aren't confident enough to go up to some stranger and simply start a conversation. The only way to break away from this trend is just to push our feelings aside and just do it - nothing will happen in this world unless you start too. I have learned that the only way to learn from the rest of the world is by starting in the small pool of people that you have around. The next step after is yours to make and you decide whether you want to conform or if you want to explore.