As college students, we inevitably fall into a mundane routine of classes, jobs, and extracurriculars, with some rest and relaxation interspersed throughout the semester. While we all lead such busy lives, it can be challenging at times to branch out and meet new people, as deviating away from the familiar faces of our friends and acquaintances oftentimes adds stress, especially for more introverted individuals like myself.
However, when we do get the chance to venture away from our inner circles and discover how people from other walks of life spend their time, we have the potential to gain more than just friendship. By stepping out of my comfort zone this summer and taking an internship in an unfamiliar city, I set out to learn as much as I could from the new people around me.
When interacting with new people for the first time, once we get past the traditional questions about where they call home and what they are studying, we become more aware of how we present ourselves on a day to day basis. Should I use a slang phrase that I say all the time around my friends, or will they not understand? Should I make the kinds of jokes I make at home, or will they not find it funny? We become hyper-aware of how we interact, which can be a useful form of self-reflection. If you are spending time with someone who is more introverted, you might learn that you are more outgoing than you had originally thought. Perhaps the person you meet has a strong opinion that contradicts your own. You might learn that you tend to be more or less confrontational about your beliefs when interacting with new people.
We tend to project the best versions of ourselves in order to make a good first impression; however, we might not realize how close the best version is to our true selves until we are around people that don't know anything about us.
New friends can also result in new sources of inspiration. People are amazingly diverse in what they are passionate about and how they pursue those passions. Meeting people with astounding accomplishments can be intimidating at first, but by being proud of our peers' successes we become more driven in finding our own. Meeting people with interesting new hobbies and career goals can convince us to finally pick up that instrument or new language that we have been putting off for so long. If they can chase their dreams, why can't we? Our college and young adult years are ironically the most competitive as well as the most collaborative years of our lives.
By spending time learning from each other's successes and mistakes, we can set ourselves up for greatness not only in our professional or academic lives but also in our personal and spiritual pursuits.
