On January 7, I have met several people who were very unfamiliar to me during the 6th Cebu-Steemit meet up because it was my first time to attend such event. As I tried taking pictures with everybody around the cafe, I met two people who instantly became my "best friends". We talked for a few minutes, introduced ourselves, sat down on a bench and continued talking and laughing. A fellow steemian 
Starting a conversation has been a challenge to some people. Awkward silence must be the biggest fear that a person faces when he/she starts a conversation to another person new to him/her. It can be a very uncomfortable situation in a conversation when meeting new people. Sometimes, there are barriers of communication that we unconsciously create in a conversation because we are too focused on how to make a good impression to our counterpart. We might think of cool things to say or something that pleases the other person by how awesome your words are to the point that you find yourself stuck in the middle of the conversation because you are out of flowery words.
Friday night, I sent a message to
Our meet-up went really well. The conversation was free flowing and smooth. There were things that I did not expect to happen, stories that I did not anticipate to hear and potentials I did not presume to discover.
There are several things I want to share to you about what I learned from that event that you might wanna know:
1. Do not impress.
I have mentioned that communication can have so many barriers that we unconsciously make and one of which is to try to impress your counterpart. I mean, yes we all have these moments in our lives that we want to sound good especially when we meet people for the first time. In the corporate world, "first impression lasts" so I understand that we try our best to leave a good impression to someone by selling ourselves in the highest appraisal. But when you try to make new friends, wants to know them more and intend to have a free flowing conversation for hours, then you might want to take this as an advice.
I think one of the reasons to stay in an intimate and meaningful conversation is to stay natural. I always am curious about how these two think and how they maintain their balance as geniuses and as a regular citizens in their homes. I am still in awe on how we had our natural curiosity towards each other and gathered details to build connection with the other person. The genuity of their characters left me lost of words.
2. There are NO LAZY writers on Steemit.
Kim
Those words struck my heart. You might find it odd and awkward and offensive at some point that a person you just met for the 2nd time is gonna say those harsh words to you but to me, it was a compliment! :D (Kim, if you are reading this right now, THANK YOU! Look at this post, I am seriously taking your advice girl! LOL!) I have met a lot of people in my life but he is the most frank person ever and I love it because I am the same.
One thing I would never forget, "Be an exceptional writer!"
3. See things in a different perspective.
Is the glass half-full or half-empty? This can sometimes takes up our mental and physical energy. You maybe wrong or you maybe right. Sometimes it's not about being right but having the right approach the best way possible.
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Gail was so expressive of her thoughts and shared how she sees things in a different angle. There was something in my being that was unlocked by listening to them seeing the world in a different way. I realized that if we can see things in another person's perspective, there would be less disagreements and arguments with each other. We will be more careful and achieve world peace.
4. Always strive for excellence NOT perfection.
This left me in fascination. It made known to me that these two are quite different. Putting the best quality in everything you do everyday is quite a challenge to many. We should always aim to achieve something but not to the point of demoralizing ourselves because we did not attain perfection. We should always remind ourselves that it's okay to fail. Balance is the key to stabilize the quality of life that we aim to have. These two people I just knew are always striving to be the best that they can be and I always see them as a role model of excellence.
We might have different ways of seeing things in a different perspective, we know in our hearts that we will always be there to support each other.
