Introduction
In this essay, it should be given an example of a situation in which the way of behaving towards other people has changed, due to a specific previous experience, and explain the reasons why there was such a change.
When a person is growing up, towards adulthood, the way how to relate with others and the interaction situations that come up keep molding one to be every day more adapted to social life.
One example I learned with the social experience with others was to stop lingering on others for decisions. I used to, not always in a conscious way, rely on somebody else to decide for me and just let myself go with the flow of things.
After knowing a person who became one of my best friends, never afraid of speaking his mind and telling things as they are, I became, quite often, confronted with sides of my personality I never even thought to have bad characteristics and, actually jeopardizing good relations with others.
One of such examples was when I was confronted with a situation where I was on my “environment” and that person was not. We had stipulated a plan of how to arrange things in order to be in some place at a certain time of the day. What happened was that, when I was with “my people”, socializing, I expected that person to tell me when it was time to go.
In the end, we spent much more time than the one we planned and never went where it was supposed that we would go.
The person told me I was not showing reliability and hoped I wasn’t like that at my work place. Told me that, when we with people unknown to one of us, the other shouldn’t expect the other to step up and be the “spoiler” who says it is time to go; said that it demonstrated lack of responsibility and immaturity.
Furthermore, he told me I demonstrated not to be able to speak up for myself and to be a confrontation avoider; and that this could seriously harm in many other situations, much more serious than this one; for instance, in the work field, not being able to defend myself and presenting a weak attitude and impression, that would make others take advantage of me.
This person, with this simple situation, being so bluntly direct, made me rethink my whole way of behaving myself towards others and to seriously reconsider the way I interact.
I saw I actually wasn’t speaking my mind; instead, people could easily persuade me to whatever it was of their interest, not regarding me.
Thanks to this experience, I quickly learned my necessity of growing up, being responsible for me, for whom is with me and to stand up tall.
Conclusion
When we face certain situations in life, which can be very simple, we can extract from them great life lessons, which, by its’ turn, can mold and be the strong foundations for the evolution of the rest of our life.
Sometimes it only takes some sincere, blunt words from someone who doesn’t follow the heard.
References
Carlson, Eve B., Ruzek, Josef (2003, September). Effects of Traumatic Experiences. Retrieved from http://www.athealth.com/consumer/disorders/traumaeffects.html
Louttit, Meghan, Chong, Yuri, Walsh, Christine (2011, September 14). The Educational Experiences That Change a Life, The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/09/18/magazine/18mag-edExperiences.html
