Tuesday, 9 October 2012

Just be you...


You learn something new everyday.

If there was one statement that could greatly describe how I perceive this new life I'm trekking, that will be the quote right above.   Somehow, with all the foreign things surrounding me, I can't help but feel like a kid.  Getting out of your comfort zone has never been this extreme!  Believe me. There are what we call basic "awkward~" situations where you get a little uncomfortable. But with simple and basic socially awkward situations at least more or less you are self-aware of the comfort endagering situation.  You have at least a marker on this one.  You know, like crossing the imaginative line of personal space or going out of your house gate when you were still a child.  Think about leaving that marker and venturing out into an unknown place, where people speak different languages and everything just seems so...NEW!  Right now, after all the nerve-wracking (and not to mention painstakingly humiliating) awkwardness I have been secretly carrying on my back, I have reformed to being a child.  So socially awkward sometimes that I have no care if I have acted rather ridiculously - like a child telling a green joke by accident.

The thing is immigrants like us are welcomed here in Canada and being awkward is fine.  Hey nobody is perfect!  You can't be all good at mingling with people right away.  But you can try.  Just try and try and eventually you'll get better.  Like a baby learning how to walk.  You have to risk falling before you actually learn.  And I bet that didn't just happen overnight.  You had to learn how to turn over first, sit unguarded, stand with the help of furnitures and practice letting go.  You can't just skip it all.  Take risk and be awkward.  Be you.  Afterall, you're building relationships so as much as possible honesty must be present.  They may find you weird at first or ...well, I can't think of anything except for weird so we'll just go with that. That's just how it is!  I tried to talk "casually" as soon as I got here and woah...you wouldn't believe how excruciatingly awkward I was to those people I have talked to.  I stuttered, mumbled, went out of topic and in the end I was talking in one word descriptors.  Talk about desperate communication right?   Nevertheless, I tried because I know that that is the only way to go.  I'm glad I did strike up those childish conversations though.  I can say that I have gained confidence in speaking and the stuttering is almost gone. My flightiness is a little hard to deal with but I think I can manage that through PGH style modification.

Hooray for Sir Jerry and Ma'am Ai~!!!  Thanks for straightening me out when I was still in Ward 7.   It's a great help now.

So view everything like a child - without prejudice and malice. I bet you'll find the world a better place.  Let me tell you it is easy if you try.  Just let His wisdom guide you (or you could just go with the weather topic.  Yes, it always works.)








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