simeone says

A while back I was bouncing ideas around with a friend for some non-Fitness related post idea because I knew I would want to change things up. Realizing that my birthday fell on a Monday, the day I decided I would try to write my posts, they suggested “why don’t you share 24 facts about yourself for your 24th birthday.” Great, what an easy post…it is, after all, the subject I am the most qualified to write about. The more I thought about this idea, however, the more I began to think about how narcissistic birthdays are. One day a year we have our day where people take time from their day to call us, text us, write on our Facebook wall, send us a card or even spend their money on a gift for us.

The more I thought about this the more I realized it isn’t only our birthday that we center around ourselves. When I analyzed my days I realized that a majority of the actions of my day were centered around myself. I wake up and decide what I want to wear and where I want to go that day or what I need to get done…and then I go do them paying little attention to the things outside of my world that I created for myself and the people I choose to be in it. So, I got the idea that since there are billions of people out there and “I” am only one of them that for my 24th Birthday Post I would meet 24 strangers and write about it.

Wait, what? Naturally, I immediately thought of a myriad of excuses why I should not actually do this. I have a self-proclaimed fear of talking to people. My Myers-Briggs personality test tells me I am an introvert. It is totally in my nature to keep to myself…it is who I am. I have resting b*tch face, people don’t approach me. Yet, in spite of all of my excuses I now felt like I was too far into the idea to back out. You know when you eat the suggested serving size worth the Oreo cookies, but then you get the idea to eat the whole sleeve and even though your mind and your stomach are telling you not to, you throw all caution to the wind because hey, you’re no quitter? (no shame, we’ve all been there). This was one of those feelings…I had the idea in my head and there was no going back without an honest attempt.

I started out small on the project. I simply began making it a point to get to know the people I have forced interactions with on a daily basis. I learned that the cashier at the Ulta store I frequently go to is going on vacation to South Carolina at the end of this month. My barista at a small coffee shop I go to had just gotten a new puppy. The woman at the customer service desk at Target, originally from up north, hates the summer weather. By simply making it a point to talk to people working at the places I frequently visit, I learned something about 12 people. While I was completely content using this method to reach the second half of my goal, I decided that I wanted to take it a step further.

Instead of getting to know the people I have forced interactions with on a daily basis, I would make an effort to meet people who were truly strangers to me. People who were not providing me a service. People I had never seen before. People who were existing outside of the interactions I was choosing to have. I quickly learned, however, that it is really unnatural to have casual conversation with strangers you have no reason to be talking to. So, the only way to accomplish this was to tell people exactly what I was trying to do.

Sitting in a Starbucks, I decided to approach a women who was sitting outside sharing Frappuccinos with her pre-teen daughter. They were outside with no one to witness in case the interaction went badly. I approached them and asked them if they would help me with a project to which the mom reasonably replied, “Well, it depends what that project is”. Fair enough. I told her I turn 24 in a week and I would like to meet 24 strangers and write about it on my blog. Promising not to use any names B and her daughter, H, agreed and I sat down to have a conversation with them. I learned that they are from the East Berlin area which B really enjoys for the small-town atmosphere. H’s favorite part of the town she lives in is the library where her favorite stories to read are the Harry Potter series, though she’s never seen the movies! When asking B for her pet peeve, she shared that she dislikes impatient drivers and we joked about all the rude things people do when they drive. When asked what one word (or phrase) they would use to describe themselves, B said passionate while H described herself as easy to talk to. I soon learned that I got lucky meeting people as friendly as B and H.

Turns out, a lot of people were not receptive to the idea. I had a couple of people tell me no while others flat out ignored me. I had another tell me that it was “silly” and one man even asked me how did he know he could trust that I wasn’t just trying to get information to steal his identity. Good point, I guess. Additionally, I met a couple from Finland and only the women spoke English. She did not wish to talk at length with me and, instead, said I should use them by saying I met two folks who were “too old to be part of a blog”.

I did meet a lovely couple, J and L, who have lived in the Gettysburg area for around 50 years. They are both retired teachers who went to Shippensburg University. J, like myself, majored in mathematics which led to him asking me what I do now. When talking about the path that led me to my current job, L shared that she actually looked at attending my alma matter back when she went to college, but decided to go to Ship because of the price. We talked a lot more about Juniata College and they shared that their granddaughter, a sophomore in high school, is looking at Juniata for the pre-med program and plans to visit the campus soon. At first, neither could think of a pet peeve about people that they had so J decided to share a pet peeve he has about the Gettysburg area. We discussed how there is not yet a good balance between commercialism and preservation in the area and that while there is a lot to offer tourists who are staying for a short period of time, people who live in the area often have to drive to Hanover, Chambersburg, or other neighboring towns to do their shopping. As our conversation progressed, J thought of a couple of people pet peeves such as people who drive while distracted which led us to a conversation about how dependent my generation is on technology. I wound up talking to this couple for almost 30 minutes!

While at the gym, I got a woman, D, to help me with my goal. She works out at the gym 2 times a week and her favorite thing to do at the gym is the treadmill (you go, girl). While working out she prefers watching TV over listening to music. Turns out, we both love watching Bravo television and cannot get enough of reality tv. We are both anxiously awaiting the return of the Real Housewives of New Jersey later this summer. When asked what her pet peeve was, D simply replied that she does not like rude people. She makes it a daily goal to do three non-monetary nice deeds a day as it is the simplest way to make the world you live in better. I couldn’t agree more.

Closing in on the end of the week, I had 6 more people to meet and not very many opportunities to do so. Luckily, the two guys who work at the gym I go to were willing to help me accomplish a third of this goal. C and his co-worker agree that their favorite part of working at the gym is seeing the people come in everyday to work hard and, over-time, getting to see a physical change in them. They said, for the most part, customers they interact with at work are very friendly and that most of the rude people they encounter are when they answer the phones. C said that when he is not at work he enjoys working out and cleaning (yep, that’s not a typo…he enjoys cleaning) while his co-worker enjoys playing with his chocolate lab puppy. C said that his pet peeve is people who don’t respond to him when he talks to them. I assured him that some people, like myself, who can only hear out of one ear, probably aren’t trying to be rude. He said he tries not to take it personally because he tries to keep in perspective that everyone has their own stuff going on. He also shared that another pet peeve is uninformed people who try to give health/exercise advice (preach, sista).

Closing in on my goal, I met a couple at a coffee shop who were traveling through the New Oxford area on their way to visit their daughter and 5 grand children. The wife and I both share a love of pumpkin flavored baked goods. We also, interestingly enough, are right handed people who prefer to eat food with our non-dominant hand. She said she would describe herself in one word as “perseverant” while her husband would describe her as “stubborn”. The wife replied that he would be sleeping on the couch tonight. Well, at least I had made it more than halfway through without causing any marital disputes.

I met one more person, a lady at a Dunkin Donuts (obviously, I have a coffee addiction) who recently celebrated her 82nd birthday. I did not talk with her long, however, I asked her what advice she would give her 24 year-old self and I found her answer to be quite interesting. She said that though it seems like there were a lot of things she would change, if she thinks about it harder, she would not change anything of what she’s done in her 82 years. Her advice to me on my 24th year of life? To “appreciate your youth, your parents, your sense of humor, and your hair while you still have them.”

While I fell 2 people shy of my goal of meeting 24 strangers, I am happy with the result. I learned that even though we live in a world that seems full of hate, when it comes down to it, we are a lot more alike then we are different. While these people seemingly had nothing in common with me outside of liking iced coffee beverages, while they were various genders and ages, while they came from many different places, it did not take long to find a common interest to talk about. So while today I’ve received many phone calls, Facebook messages, texts, gifts, and cards that I am very appreciative of, I am also thankful that some awesome people who do not know me shared their time with me this past week. While I might not accost strangers in coffee shops until, perhaps, next June, I do think I will try to make more effort to interact with the people around me. Here’s to 24.