My dad once said “Surround yourself with people that care about you and your best interests, don't surround yourself with people who constantly want to live in the moment and only care about themselves.”
I took this to heart many years ago and, through my experiences at RHP, I have realized that building strong relationships is an important aspect of growing up.
It has had a huge impact on my overall personal development. The people that I’ve surrounded myself with during high school have motivated me to be a better person by pushing me to try new things (including being forced to enjoy poke) and always having my back while doing so.
Ever since I turned sixteen, I’ve always wanted to follow through on a goal I set for myself to get into shape by working out at the gym. I knew the only way I could achieve my goal was to develop good habits and a disciplined mindset.
However, this goal always fell through whenever I tried to go to the gym. What stopped me was the thought of being judged by the other gym-goers.
I was self-conscious that I looked like a total novice who had no idea what he was doing. It took the help of my friend to change this mentality.
One day, I got a text from one of my close friends inviting me to go to the gym. I was a bit nervous, but I kept telling myself I had to step outside my comfort zone, so that’s what I did.
When we got there, my friend showed me the equipment, the exercises and reassured me that all the people at the gym are completely self-absorbed and really only care about themselves.
As time went on, I got more comfortable to the point where I started going to the gym by myself. Now, I work out consistently and feel I have achieved my goal.
It’s hard for me to admit this, but social anxiety had a tremendous impact on my freshman and sophomore years of high school.
It stopped me from doing what I wanted to do. To me, people who did not have to deal with social anxiety seemed to fit in better.
Whereas I felt like I did not belong to any groups in or out of school.
I can still remember the first day of school when my advisor introduced me to the students in my grade that I would spend the rest of my high school life with.
She literally took my arm and dragged me over to a table of very welcoming classmates.
I was shy at first, not able to start up a conversation. But as time went on, I started warming up to my classmates who openly accepted me into their friend group.
Looking back over the years, I am amazed at the countless friendships I have formed with so many different people at RHP, some of whom I never thought I could be friends with.
While some friendships are stronger than others, each has helped me realize that I do belong in this community. I've been inspired to fight against my social anxiety and go out there and build new friendships and gain new experiences. There is always something new to learn from every person that you hang out with.
I now know that there are people out there who want nothing more than to be your friend, to share that connection that they have with so many other people, and to be there for you every step of the way.