Naturally, I am not the friendly-type. I am (or at least try to be) kind to 90% of the people I meet but it would take me a tremendous amount of effort to go up to a person I haven’t been introduced to and strike a conversation. Believe it or not, I am shy. Although most of the time, I’ve been mistaken for a snob or a prude. I may appear confident but deep down I cringe at the thought of approaching someone I do not know. Once I get acquainted, the walls go down and the trust goes up.
Unless I am working.
I morph into a different person when I am in business meetings / gatherings. I don’t understand why but shyness deliberately leaves me during these times. I am definitely more comfortable in business situations than in personal interactions. But today was different. I genuinely offered to share my umbrella to a fellow foreigner on my way to work. We shared some basic info during that 10-min walk to our building and I even invited my new friend to have lunch sometime. [Woah! I just asked someone out! But don’t get your hopes up, she’s a girl!!]
I realized that living someplace else can act like a placebo to counter an involuntary social discomfort. If I were home, I would probably just shift my umbrella to her direction without uttering a word. I have a handful of people I am close to in my new home. I am doing great. However, I still miss just bumping into someone I know almost always whenever I am out.. Or getting my free days packed ‘because I need to meet up with a ton of people’ from every aspect of my life. Plus, it is always a good idea to expand my network of good people.
It’s a big world and everyone is going global, so must I.
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