I like everyone else, gets nervous when put into a new situation. Just like everyone else, I have moved living situations, worked jobs as the new guy, and have been a stranger somewhere. Being pushed out of a situation that you are comfortable with can cause you to shrink. Your demeanor shrinks, your physical composure shrinks, and you involuntarily become the smallest figure in the room. You suddenly become a stranger even to yourself. But after a couple more days in that new place, after a couple more meetings with those new co-workers, you realize that those people are not paying you much attention as you thought they were and that many of them do not have an agenda against you. You realize that at the end of the day, all those worries were in your head. Something that you fabricated as an excuse to your feeling of uneasiness. And when you start thinking about these things, you believe these things, and they become true. So when you’re in a new environment (assuming it’s not hostile), I encourage you to embrace what new opportunities for advancement and relationships you may have there. Don’t let indecision guide your actions, let your enthusiasm for potential spark your interests. You won’t learn anything new about yourself otherwise. After all, everyone starts as a stranger at some point.
