About Being Kind: The Swimmer's Ear (This is the last water reference, I swear!)

Hey internet! So I know its been a little while since we talked, but not too long though which is good. Things in college haven't been easy as you know. I spend a lot of my time going to classes, eating, going to the gym, and doing homework. When I'm not doing those things then I go online. . . (Sometimes I go online when I'm supposed to be doing homework but that's besides the point) Hahahaha Anyways, during my last few weeks since we've spoken I've had to learn a hard lesson here that I want to pass on to you, especially those of you who are around my age, over or under eighteen years old. It may not seem like it at first but I promise the message behind this lesson relates back to being kind.

So to keep things anonymous I am not going to tell the story of how exactly I learned this lesson. Instead I am going to propose a hypothetical situation in which what I learned can be applied. This is going to sound kind of simple but here it goes . . . Imagine a kid who is a swimmer. This kid has been a swimmer all his life and loves it. He is only taught one type of stroke, let's say free style. As the kid grows up he is set in his ways and habits and they become more concrete in his mind. However when he goes off on his own and continues swimming either for his college, a community team, or a professional team, he must learn to swim a different kind of stroke (ex. backstroke, breath stroke, butterfly,). This shatters the concrete style and routine he has come to know in his mind. He struggles physically and mentally-a lot of questions come up in his mind. Can he accept and learn these new styles? Or does he not give in to the pressures of this new outside influence to what he already knows? 

This is the kind of situations I was facing here at college, and was adding to my stress. What I had already come to learn as a child was being challenged in the sea of new things and places. (I know I have been making a lot of ocean references for my posts lately, I'll come up with something new next time. Promise! Haha) The problem wasn't in the fact that these new things were coming up, the problem was the fact that I was fighting it. Even though I participated in these activities in a daily basis, I let my pride determine whether I was going to actually take it in or not. I would think to myself, "I know better," "That's the wrong way to do it".  I would listen and pay attention to what I was being taught, but in my head I would put everything down based on my own limited knowledge of the world. I would plan around it, try and do it my way and still make it seem like I was trying. Which sucks because you could miss out on some pretty cool stuff if you tune everything out like that. 

Over the course of this month I slowly started to realize what was happening. I realized I wasn't taking in anything and always in a state of somewhat frustration which isn't fun. So instead I tried to relax and go with the flow, and that works a lot better when it comes to stress level. However its not like I just gave up on my opinions. I still have them, everyone is entitled to their own. Instead I found a different way of filtering what I hear. I want to learn and retain as much as I can, but at the same time get rid of negative energy. Usually I keep to the facts and get rid of the opinions based off assumptions, whether it be mine or someone else's. 

One last thing internetians, just because someone else has a different outlook then you does not make them bad people in the least. Again, everyone is entitled to have their own outlook and their own opinion in this world. The fact they are trying to share this knowledge with me should have made me want to understand, to listen. That's part of being kind? Listening and respecting others? Why should I let my pride get in the way of that? They deserve as much respect as I would want if I were teaching or speaking.

I am also not a bad person for taking in their opinion they give with their lessons. See, what I learned there is certain ear you have to pick to filter in the good things and filter out the bad. Even though I am still working on that, I need to learn and thrive from as much as I can. That's how I'll be the best I can be as an adult. 

As I have ventured on this new ear of mine I have discovered a lot of the opinions that seemed to have contradicted with mine are actually not bad at all. Some things I will never be able to believe but that just goes without saying right? 

~Claire~