Spending a year in a different country may be a step into the unknown, but something that makes us even more stressed is meeting people that we have never met or know anything about. After arriving in the United Kingdom, I joined a Facebook group called Yes Theory (visit their website here). Their idea is to seek discomfort to become a better person, and that is what I did. There is a group of people here in Yorkshire and we decided to meet up one evening and have dinner followed by a film by the Yes Theory founders.
Going into this I knew nothing about these people besides a name and a facebook profile photo so taking that step into the unknown or seeking discomfort is a challenge I accepted, some people may even say that I was crazy to meet with 20 random strangers; I mean how safe can it be? The evening was a success, and I made a new group of friends that came together for no other reason then we were in a group chat together. We still talk often and we will meet again in the future.
This story has a bigger lesson in it then me bragging about making friends, it looks at how we as humans get comfortable with where we are, with how life is around us and the result of that is that we no longer seek out the unknown. Naturally we like comfort but in order for us to grow as a person, community or society we need to seek the discomfort in life. What that looks like is up to the individual it could be the introvert saying hello to the person on the sidewalk, it could be making friends with random strangers, it could be putting yourself in a place where people around you have a different belief on something then you. All of these examples push people into the discomfort thus creating a better society. I encourage you all to take that step into the unknown, embrace the discomfort you will be surprised at the result of your actions and how it can change your life forever.
Love this.
Hmmmmm. I’m thinking this over.