I have always held the notion that we should strive to make friends from different backgrounds, friends who are not the same age as us, friends who have had different life experiences. We can get so caught up in our everyday lives, in work and school. In our internships, research and future career. We seldom make time to view life outside the realm of what we are living.
I am grateful I have the ability to talk with people who have lived and continue to live life in ways I could not even dream of. That is the only way I will grow as a person. More than anything, it helps me realize how small I am in this intensely large world. That is why I encourage traveling so much. When I was on the plane ride back from Switzerland, I had the chance to sit next to a old Swiss professor. He was talking to me about the vast differences between American and European culture, and how each time he steps foot in the United States, he is so confused. He pointed out differences that I had not even thought of. That conversation was so memorable.
Here are 10 reasons why I believe everyone should strive to make friends who live lives completely different from us:
1. You get the chance to see and experience different cultures.
What better way to see different cultures when you choose to have conversations with people who live miles away from you? What do they eat, how they go about school, what they do for fun?
2. You have the opportunity to see how others go about their daily lives.
Our daily life is so mundane and boring that we do not think much of it. But for someone who has never lived life like this, it could be the most exciting thing they hear. And vice versa!
3. That there is more to the world than what you are currently seeing.
The only way it is even possible to be taken to another world is if we have conversations that take us there. You see life from the other person's perspective.
4. You learn more.
I have not learned more about human emotion and human life more than when I have conversations with people who treat and view life so much differently than me.
5. You come to the realization that there's more to life than the one you are currently living.
I think this is one of my favorite reasons as to why I strive to have conversations with those that are worlds apart from me. There is more to this world than what is around you, and what has been around you for years.
6. You constantly think to yourself "oh, I did not even know such a person even existed!"
I really do that. When I was talking to that Swiss professor on the plane, I had no a person was even capable of living like this. It was marvelous to think like that.
7. To get inspiration and motivation
Nothing is more inspiring and motivating than hearing people's stories, and about how they have overcome struggle and tragedy in their life. That is why people love "Humans of New York," it was a marvelous idea that stuck.
8. To gain a deeper understanding of the world
Not all conversations help us gain this understanding, but some (very few) do.
9. The memories from that conversation (or those conversations) give you a new perspective.
It's true. Your perspective changes completely, and you view things in a completely new light.
10. It is almost like traveling to a whole new country
Talking to a person that is different from you is almost like journeying through a whole new country. It's exciting, fills you with anxiety at times, and gives you wonderful memories to look back on when you come back.
