Building a network in a new environment

For the past couple of months, one has been thrust into a new unfamiliar environment with unknown people from different walks of life. This is when you start acknowledging the importance of the relationships we have with our families, friends and/or partners. It‘s at this point that you start realising how these connections brings peace to one’s life. Coming from an environment where you had your parents who were always there for you and seeing your friends on a daily basis at school, to having to make new friends, acquaintances, etc. You have new teachers, with new teaching methods.   

Creating these bonds in a vast environment like a university, a place where people from different parts of the country come together with different perspectives, backgrounds and beliefs that sets you apart. You find yourself having to find common ground between yourself and prospective friends, finding things you have in common to relate to each.

Moving here as a socially anxious individual, a homebody on top of that, the thought of having to make new friends, new acquaintances and having to familiarize myself with the environment. Luckily, within the first couple of days I was able to make friends and this taught me the importance of getting out of your comfort zone and building a social life. Having a balanced work-life balance, leads to healthy mental state, which leads to a successful “work” life, or school life in my case.

Through out the months after building these networks around me I have come to realise that the ubuntu phrase, “I am because we are,” is very valid when it comes to our everyday lives. Watching how people who know nothing about each other, will come together and help each other with school work with the hope that one day when they need help someone help them.

Personally, it took having people close to me leave to realise, like when my sister left for college in 2014. Her absence in my life was highly notable in the sense that her departure left a gaping whole of a protector and a pillar of strength. She was a confidant that could not be replaced, though she would come back every quarter it did not change different dynamic that developed in the house. The imbalance of going from a household with a sibling to an “only” child, it is only natural that you feel alone.

We work hard on a daily basis trying to create these meaningful bonds between each other, humans survive off of the feeling these relationships bring into our lives be it good or bad, we will always gain or learn something from them. Like the African proverb says, “Motho ke motho ka batho,” or “It takes a village to raise a child.” These are some proverbs that highlight the importance of building solid the relationships and/or networks around you, as you never know when you’ll ever need a shoulder or any assistance in the future.