Day 9: Connection

A man is a social animal. He needs to live in a group. He needs to interact/communicate/express/talk to be alive. In other words, he needs to connect with the outer world.

Recently, I have noticed I am getting into my shell. After moving to a new place, it is being difficult for me to open-up. Well, I must say this is not due to the moving. When I go back to India to visit the families and friends, I am not myself. I am lost in my own world, and to my surprise I don't know what this world comprises of. I am silent but not that silent that someone notices I am being different. But, I know I am not me. Most of the times, I do not have anything to talk to. I am not that out-going but at the same time I am not reserved too. This is a gradual change, I must say which is eating me gradually. It is not an overnight thing. I am sure I must do something about it.

The problem I see is connection. It is so important to connect. This is readily seen in the presence of so many social and professional networking sites. More and more people are joining them everyday with varied thoughts in their mind, may be to find old friends or to make new, to find a new job or just inform others about their status/skills/whereabouts etc. In some or the other form, everybody is trying to catch the 'connect train'. I am also there on some of these sites, but for me is it real connection? Some of my friends and people I know, are benefiting from them very much, but I miss something.

I realize for me 'the surface things' do not matter. There has to be something deep inside. But at the same time I must realize that basically the connection starts from the surface and then goes to the depth. And during this process, there has to be an effort, consistent effort. More than that, I think there must be a will to connect. Is it that I have the lost the will to connect? I think, no it's not that. May be I have become too particular and I am stuck to the image of my old good friends/places/interests. Life is a box of choclates and one never knows which flavour he gets. I must understand the characteristics and the goodness of each flavour and enjoy it than relishing dormantly on the old flavours. Life never proceeds backwards, it moves forwards and so must I.

There are so many books written on how to connect- both personally and professionally. I think in the coming days, I have my hands full with one more goal, to understand how I can be a good communicator. How can I develop interest in other people than remaining in my own shell and seeing the world from there? I am sure to pen some more posts on this topic because I have to learn so much and while I take this learning experience I am bound to write my mind out.