Well hello there!  It has been quite a long time, but (for now) I’m back.  I’ll do a catch up post at some point, but for now let’s just jump right in.

I go in and out of having mantras in my life, but I find when I’m sticking to one that it tends to push me in a better direction.  I’m still working on a mantra for my life, but I have a general idea, and one of the words in my mantra is ‘genuine.’  I am always looking to surround myself with more genuine people, and in turn be more genuine myself.

If life isn’t feeling as great as I would like it to, I tend to hole up and stick to myself and what is comfortable.  I don’t want to push myself, I don’t want to talk to people who I don’t need to talk to, and I want to get to a better place on my own before reaching out to others.  It feels very disenguine though, and kind of like a cop out.

Today, I went to a local coffee shop to get some work done.  I started out by eating my food without having my computer open to try to focus more on my food, but of course I was staring at my phone the whole time… Then I opened up my computer and started working.  Internet was going in and out so I was about to pack up and go home, when someone came up and asked me if I wouldn’t mind scooting over a seat so him and his daughter would have room to sit next to me.  Of course that was no problem, and he was very kind about it.  He even made a joke that hopefully the people I was moving closer to don’t bite.  This started a conversation with the people next to me about their biting habits.  Before this nice man asked me to move I overheard the couple sitting next to me talking about where to get croissants.  At first I was going to keep my mouth shut because it wasn’t any of my business and I shouldn’t have been eavesdropping, but because I had started a conversation with them I was able to recommend a place that had great croissants in town.  This led to the dad and his daughter talking to me about other bakeries in town that were great.

Normally, I would be annoyed in this situation.  I was there to get work done and focus, but everyone was being so genuine and kind that I couldn’t help but join in the conversation.  I ended up talking to the dad and his daughter for about 30 minutes and it felt so good.  I likely will never see them again, but it was a reminder that being around genuine people tends to cause others to open up and be more genuine.

I think when I go to coffee shops my body is actually craving people time.  It doesn’t always mean (in fact it hardly means) that I’ll strike up a conversation with someone else, but the possibility is there.  I find people watching to be so intriguing to understand how we all work and present ourselves.

I ended up leaving shortly after this to get some work done, but I left feeling so much better about life.  Connecting to others, whether they are strangers or not, pushes us out of our loneliness mindset.  It opens us up to other ideas, other ways of living and interacting.  We have so much to learn from one another if we would just open up and say hi.

Opening up to strangers is very difficult for me, because I’m not the most ‘smooth’ with conversation, and I get nervous that I’m being too forward or not interesting enough, but the truth is all it takes is a smile, a ‘hi, can I sit next to you’ and you never know who you might end up connecting with.

Thank you to the kind people who I sat next to today who reminded me that we’re all human, and can all connect on some level.  Being genuine is a gift that we can all learn, and we would be better off for doing it.

I’m hoping to get back into blogging to give me something to focus on for myself, instead of zoning out and avoiding life.

I hope you can all find someone to connect with today, stranger or not.

Happy Saturday everyone 🙂