Every new year we get bombarded with advertisements asking us what our new year resolution is and to use their product to help us reach our goals. Typically losing weight, quitting a bad habit, spending more time with family, and getting organized top the list and I usually choose one of these as my resolution also. However, this year I am going for a more realistic approach. I want to do something different with my life, but all the typical resolutions require effort that I just never end up giving and my new year resolution carries over to the next year.
So, my 2011 new year resolution is simple, something I could see myself doing each day, but having a profound impact on my life. I am going to say "hi," "hello," "what's up," or a greeting of some form to a random person each day.
This task may not seem like much, or maybe even out of the ordinary for some people, but for me, this will make a difference in my day. I have managed to live next door to people in my dorm and not get to know their names or even know what they look like for the past year and a half. I made it all of last year without meeting my neighbors, I honestly could not tell you any of the four girls' names that lived beside me and I would not be able to point them out in a crowd. So far this school year, I do not know what my neighbors look like nor do I know their names, again! How can I go through an entire school year without getting to know the people living right beside me?
This issue, which I find to be a problem, is one of the main reasons I want to embark upon this goal of saying "hi" to new people each day. I should know my neighbors and the people I pass each day, at least their names and faces, but somewhere along the way I have gotten so caught up in my own life that I have deemed those I pass irrelevant.
Since we are already two weeks into the new year and I still have not managed to post this, I have tried to start my new year's resolution and it has definitely brought some smiles. When I talk to someone I don't know when I'm having a bad day, it makes me feel better. I feel accepted and liked, which is not always the case when I feel like such an outcast at Miami. The simple "how are you doing?" brings some needed interaction in my solitary world and I don't think I'm the only one. I think saying "howdy" makes others' days as well, especially when you walk by and can tell it's been a rough one.
Just today I said "hey" to two new people as I sat in my new favorite spot, the basement of my dorm building. They live in the basement and one actually came back to talk to me after he went to his room. It wasn't as if we had a deep conversation or anything, but it made me think "wow! I guess I am approachable." I mean I sometimes feel that I must seem unfriendly or strange or for whatever reason unapproachable when I'm at Miami because I can't seem to make any friends!
I know I probably won't be making many more friends from just saying "hey," but it'll be nice to know a few more faces around campus and hopefully a few more names of my neighbors.
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