New people

I never imagined that I would actually go out of my way to meet new people, because I never really got the point of making friends. By ‘making friends’, I mean going out of my way to meet new people. Why would I want to meet new people?

‘I mean, I’m going to meet people along the way anyway so what’s the point of me intentionally trying to meet new people?’ This was basically my thought process, so I never bothered even trying to meet new people, if friends came, fine, if they didn’t, fine.

But recently for some reason I’ve increasingly been finding myself in social gatherings. And it’s been... fun? Weird, right?

At first it was quite awkward, because I previously avoided any gathering with the primary purpose of socialization, but now I think I actually get the point. Meeting new people adds so much colour to the adventure of life.

I think it’s helped me to become less judgmental and understand that behind every person is a myriad of experiences, and so I have to treat people with compassion; with consideration for the experiences that have gone into shaping them. Sure enough, I didn’t always meet people I liked, but it’s become much more than liking or not liking people for me. For me, it’s about experiencing the products of different walks of life, seeing how a variety of experiences create a variety of people, with different ideologies, inclinations, mindsets and characters. It’s about experiencing the diversity of humanity.

There are definitely people who are satisfied with a few people in their life and would rather keep to themselves, that’s perfectly fine, but I think we should give things a try before we decide that they aren’t for us, what’s life for, if not to go out and gain new experiences?

Alexander from MANI