Circles

We face life everyday and find ourselves people that we love to talk to, to have coffee with, and people that we would love to spend our time with. Friends. That's what we call them.

Fitting into a circle had been a struggling part of most of my life phases. Found it hard to get along in a conversation, or even worse, to start one. I was totally an opposite of my brother who has always been a social person since the day he knew how to speak. He just knows every single person in my hometown and everyone happens to know him. Even an Indian driver he knew from God-knows-where would pass by our house and greet him from far. Visiting our cousins' house would be an enjoyful moment for him, but not for me. I rather sit in my corner and be near to my dad than being around them.

High school was not really a fun playground for me at the beginning when it comes to social life either. For the first 4 months in my boarding school I could not find myself even a single good friend. Especially for females, that was beyond pathetic. Confidence back then was the littlest thing that I possesed. Typical high school story indeed. Now that I think about it, it was noone's fault except for my own. It was a fool of me to have expected people would just open up their arms to new people as friends. That's when I realized, that fitting in takes effort.

Now that I have chosen to get involved with clubs and the community at Uni level, being a social butterfly is no more a necessity, but rather a needing skill. I really tried to overcome those fear of being rejected, fear of being misunderstood about, fear of people in general. It was hard at first, but I also knew that these could really be a great obstacle for me to do things that I wish to do later in life. I gained courage from somewhere I didn't even know myself. All I know is that I am much more comfortable to put myself out there than I used to be years ago. And this is by judging not from the number of people/friends I know, but more from the inner feeling that only myself can tell.

Always know how to bring yourself around. That's what I learned. Different group of people think differently and thus, act, say and expect different things from you. Satisfy, or at least, respect them. Even if that means by not being yourself. Maybe you wanna point out about hipocracy. But I say, that is definitely not the case. It doesn't mean you have to totally change who you are. You just need to know your limits. Never be too matured. Never be too immatured. Never be too serious. Never joke too much. That sort of things. It's always about your willingness to give and take. And sometimes, things like these can't really be well explained by words. It's better off learned by experience.

At some point, a great thing to discover is that it was never that difficult to be a friend to others. If you are sincere with what you do, people can see it right through and without you even noticing it, they will always come back for you. You don't have to try too hard to impress people. Neither to try to be accepted nor to fake anything. It came all naturally if you be nice to people and treat them well. Thus, talking from the other side of the view, we must never make it too hard for people to break in the circle. Noone's perfect and people have their flaws. So long as they don't go by the extreme, just be fair. We could never know people too well to judge them too much. Just remember how hard it was for you as well.

I thank God that I have great friends that I can turn to. They're the ones that make you laugh and they can also be the exact same one who make you cry. And that, is the one thing you must learn to tolerate about friendship.