Hours spent on figuring out the perfect outfit to wear. Looking for something cute, but not too cute to where it looks like I tried too hard. Do I show up a little early? Or should I walk in right on the dot? My anxiety-ridden self knows that first impressions make or break an interaction.
The description above may sound like I’m getting ready for a first date. In a sense, I am.
When this year’s spring break snuck up on me, I was a little disappointed that I hadn’t created any extravagant plans. It’s my senior year of college after all. Bored and in my room, I decided to kick off a passion project I had brewing in my brain for a while.
The project: a collection of stories titled “Conversations with Strangers.”
Canva by Janea Melido.
The goal: to strengthen my interviewing skills, I think. Or, make new friends. Regardless, I committed to putting myself out there.
And despite the fear and anxiety of putting myself out there, I created an Instagram story post asking people to reach out to me if they were interested in participating in my project. I gave zero indication of what it would be, yet, a flattering number of responses came my way.
Canva by Janea Melido.
My anticipatedly mundane spring break quickly became packed with random plans sporadically spread throughout the week to meet with people I vaguely knew. Going into it, I really had no plan, but that was something I leaned into.
Whether it was a conversation over coffee, food or drinks, my interviewees and I had casual conversations about the happenings in our lives. Passions, likes and dislikes, controversial takes — I welcomed them all.
I made the decision to not record these conversations. I wanted to be fully immersed and take in the experience around me. After these chats, I would go home and word vomit about the conversations and reflect on them. I got to know these people better while also discovering new things about myself.
In turn, I grew in ways I didn’t expect to. I’ve become more confident in myself.
I cultivated new relationships with people who have been around me for a large part of my college career. This came as a surprise because in the last few months of college, the last thing I expected was to form new relationships with people who have always seemed on the periphery of my life.
Taking the leap and having “first-dates” with these people challenged my preconceived notions and reinforced the classic cliché that’s been repeated to me time and time again: Don’t judge a book by its cover.
Janea Melido is the News and Managing Editor for The Beacon. She can be reached at melido24@up.edu.
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