Hi, I'm Sam,
One thing I will argue anytime and any day is that the more you do something, the better you get at it whether intentionally or not. Being present willingly or not and participating in doing something will make you better at that thing in no time that it almost becomes part of your muscle memory. When you've spent most of your formative childhood years moving yearly from one place to another, you won't have any other choice than being good at being the NEW KID and you will get so good at adapting to new environments that the anxiety you once had at being in a new environment and trying to make something out of it becomes anxious of you. I had to equip myself with some tricks that made me less upset about moving from one place when I was just starting to get the rhythm of the place.
At the beginning, adapting to a new environment, finding new routines and creating new normals was so daunting that whenever I find out that we have to move, i don't only have to deal with saying goodbyes to the place and people I've come to know in the space of 12months. I start to imagine who I'm going to be in the new environment because I'm not going to continue being the same person I've always been as a result of growth and the environment and its worse if I’ve heard not so great things about the place. Now I have to try to forget what I've heard and try to make the best of the new place or hold on to what I've heard and try to work with it. With how much I've moved around, you'd think I should be very good at packing up and moving but I hate to report that I'm still terrible at packing my bags whether for a short or long fun trip or packing up my life and starting over to another location. I want to promise that I will get better at packing but honestly, if I haven't gotten good at it by now in my life, why bother?
No matter how good I get at adapting and thriving in new environments, one thing I never lost sight of and always try to remember is that humans can be very unpredictable and as such every scenario will never pan out exactly as I thought and truthfully speaking, most were better than I ever planned, almost as if God planned it better than I could've ever planned it. The unpredictability helped me stay grounded and not feel like I've arrived every time I got to a new place. I always did my due diligence, getting to pay attention, monitor and observe the new environment so that whenever I opened my mouth to speak, even though I might be new in the area, I don't sound so much like the new person but like a smart person who has paid adequate attention and speak like I have information because I do. This makes people comfortable because they think, it's either I'm not entirely new and different like they think or even of I'm very new just like they think, my ability to learn and adapt makes me interesting to them, interesting enough to let in and not feel like boarding up the windows to their lives and heart to be the best option.
After always being the new kid all my life, I had a profound realization about myself, which is my ability to blend in and be loved by people, anywhere I find myself. Going from knowing myself to knowing how to relate with people, the knowledge of how to speak, act, respond and react was very paramount in my ability to adapt, and thrive in new places surrounded by so many external factors. This is something I'm very grateful that going into my shell and being timid in my teenage years didn't take a thriving adaptable future from me. I will never consider it manipulative knowing how to get people to like me especially when the parts of me they love and adore are genuine parts of me. Nothing stays hidden forever and as such when you try to put up an unreal version or aspect of you, it's a charade you can only keep up with for a brief period of time because there's every chance that something will happen that will flash light on the parts of you that you're trying to conceal and worse if the part is not a very good one.
At the beginning, adapting to a new environment, finding new routines and creating new normals was so daunting that whenever I find out that we have to move, i don't only have to deal with saying goodbyes to the place and people I've come to know in the space of 12months. I start to imagine who I'm going to be in the new environment because I'm not going to continue being the same person I've always been as a result of growth and the environment and its worse if I’ve heard not so great things about the place. Now I have to try to forget what I've heard and try to make the best of the new place or hold on to what I've heard and try to work with it. With how much I've moved around, you'd think I should be very good at packing up and moving but I hate to report that I'm still terrible at packing my bags whether for a short or long fun trip or packing up my life and starting over to another location. I want to promise that I will get better at packing but honestly, if I haven't gotten good at it by now in my life, why bother?
No matter how good I get at adapting and thriving in new environments, one thing I never lost sight of and always try to remember is that humans can be very unpredictable and as such every scenario will never pan out exactly as I thought and truthfully speaking, most were better than I ever planned, almost as if God planned it better than I could've ever planned it. The unpredictability helped me stay grounded and not feel like I've arrived every time I got to a new place. I always did my due diligence, getting to pay attention, monitor and observe the new environment so that whenever I opened my mouth to speak, even though I might be new in the area, I don't sound so much like the new person but like a smart person who has paid adequate attention and speak like I have information because I do. This makes people comfortable because they think, it's either I'm not entirely new and different like they think or even of I'm very new just like they think, my ability to learn and adapt makes me interesting to them, interesting enough to let in and not feel like boarding up the windows to their lives and heart to be the best option.
After always being the new kid all my life, I had a profound realization about myself, which is my ability to blend in and be loved by people, anywhere I find myself. Going from knowing myself to knowing how to relate with people, the knowledge of how to speak, act, respond and react was very paramount in my ability to adapt, and thrive in new places surrounded by so many external factors. This is something I'm very grateful that going into my shell and being timid in my teenage years didn't take a thriving adaptable future from me. I will never consider it manipulative knowing how to get people to like me especially when the parts of me they love and adore are genuine parts of me. Nothing stays hidden forever and as such when you try to put up an unreal version or aspect of you, it's a charade you can only keep up with for a brief period of time because there's every chance that something will happen that will flash light on the parts of you that you're trying to conceal and worse if the part is not a very good one.