For as long as I can remember, anyone I’ve talked to about college says that one of the best and worst things about attending is all of the people to meet. They say that it’s where you find people of all walks of life, with all kinds of interests, and all kinds of personalities. For the outgoing, it’s a time of “Cool! Look at all the people I could meet!” But for the the more shyer, it can be a time of “Sh*t, I think I have to interact with people.”
As a proud member of that second group, I had hoped that when I went to college I would finally meet “my people, ”the ones who I would connect with and call my friends for the rest of my life. Looking around me, I can see other people who have found their lifelong friends, or are meeting so many people that it’s bound to happen sooner or later. Except me. I’m stuck wondering why I’m not hitting it off with the people I made fast friends with, but also being so terrified to go out and meet new people because I’m afraid of saying the wrong thing or seeming boring. So instead I stay quiet in my room, doing homework or watching Netflix by myself, getting food for one and texting my friends from high school. I try to tell myself that sometimes things like this take time and that I will eventually find my niche, but for those of you who don’t know, it is really hard to put yourself out there to make friends after you’ve spent however many years in your high school niche.
So why would anyone want to hear about how I can’t make friends? Because I know for a fact, that I am not the only one who feels this way. I am not the only one who has not one single clue how to meet people. You might not know how to make new friends, introduce yourself to your professor, or gather up the courage to talk to that person you might think is cute. Guess what? That is so okay, but at some point we are all going to have to swallow that fear and take that step because for all we know, the person we are afraid to make friends with or introduce yourself to is just as scared as you, and BAM, you know have something in common. Now go bond over the fact that we all just want some friends.