In the going about of daily life throughout this year I encountered a stranger who sharped my perceptive about life and interpersonal relationships.
A popular Yoruba adage goes as thus “omi leyan”, this literally means that people like water. What this means is that through the course of our life, we will meet a lot of people, some will add positivity to our life, others will add negativity to it.
During the course of my own life, I have met a lot of people,some stayed as friends and some I wish I’ve never met them.
When it comes to learning something valuable from a stranger, one really stand out, it just stuck with me, maybe because it was a recently one.
During my NYSC camp in Imo state, Nigeria, I met a certain guy who was my bunk mate. Because he was my bunkmate, we got close that even though we were in different platoon it didn’t affect our new friendship.
As a very observant person, one thing that stood out among the many characters of Joshua was his interpersonal relationship with others. He is a very open person and relate well with people. In camp whereby almost everyone was a stranger to you, having a high interpersonal relationship is very critical to your survival, in this, Joshua excel well. One thing is he didn’t often take things to heart or too personal as he often use his jovial side to solve issues whenever someone gets on his nerve.
There is a way he changes his tone, you will know he is kinda signalling that he doesn’t like that but he isn’t also angry or reeling up emotions which can diminish his relationship with others. Through this spectacular act, he was able to navigate and maintain a cordial relationship with lots of people including me, which he use to his advantage.
What I’ve learnt from the tenacity of this stranger is to work on my interpersonal relationship with others. I don’t have to be too emotionally issues arises with friends, family or strangers.
It’s only normal for issues to happen in our relationship with people but we ought to handle it in a way that won’t negatively affect the relationship. As long as the other person gets what you are trying to communicate, you are good to go. Handling issues by displaying anger or shouting on top of your voice is not a good way to go, it can be handle better.
After meeting with this special stranger in camp, I found myself developing skills in handling my interpersonal relationship issues in a better style. I communicate my feelings and emotions in a better way without letting my emotions and feelings get in the way.
