11.29.2012

COMMONALITIES

I am constantly amazed at how much there is to learn simply from observation. It is always amazing to me how when something new in our life happens it changes not just that one thing, but it extends to far greater parts of our life. This is just a really small observation, but i think there is a lot to learn from it.

I have always had a very hard time meeting new people, making new friends, approaching someone for the first time. As time passes i have found that a lot of us have this problem. We are scared of what someone might think, we don't know how to approach someone for the first time and so we just do nothing, we just go along doing what we always do, talking to the people we always talk to and having the same friends that we have had. I usually feel like this UNLESS there is someone that I have a commonality with, something that breaks the ice. I see someone cycling and i can strike up a conversation with them because i already know we have some common interests. 

Having a child opens up these doors. I have noticed that during pregnancy and after having a child I have become more approachable, and it has made other women more approachable as well. We have a commonality. We have carried a child, born a child, been awake with a child, loved a child, sacrificed for a child, the list goes on, but the point is, there is now this unspoken common ground that makes others easier to talk to. 

I can't say i now feel confident to approach every woman i see, but I have noticed just at church that people i have not ever talked to in the year I have attended with this group of people, I have now talked to. These are woman mine own age that just seemed to be at a different stage in life than i was. They have now approached me and i have approached others, the little one has removed preconceived notions, fear, and other barriers that stood in the way. It is amazing just how one thing that bring people together.

It makes me sad that I can't just be more approachable or be better at reaching out to people i don't know, but I would like to say i am getting better and that eventually i can master this aspect of my life, but until then i will be grateful for the new things in my life that expand my interests so that i have more commonalities with unknown people.


4 comments:

  1. Congrats Anna!! So happy for you three!!

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  2. Loving your blog girl!! You and the new babe are so cute!! See you sunday!!

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  3. AnnaLee, you were one of the only ones that approached me on our Spring Summit trip. I didn't know anybody and joined the group long after everybody had gotten to know and bonded with one another. I felt like an outsider, but because you reached out to me and took time to interact with me and include me in various things it made a huge impact on my life. When I think back to Spring Summit you are one of the first things that come to my mind. I know that we really haven't spent a whole lot of time together at all and it's been years since we've seen/talked with each other I still think VERY highly of you and want to be more like the person you were to me. Thanks AnnaLee.

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