Tuesday, October 21, 2014

To Be a Social Butterfly

The transition from elementary school to middle school or middle school to high school can be pretty scary. It’s a big change, especially from elementary school to middle school. You go from sitting in one class with the same teacher to having six different teachers and going from class to class. Not having classes with any of your friends can also be hard on a kid starting middle school for the first time. Stepping out of your comfort zone and getting to know people is definitely a start.
If you sit down in your first hour class and don’t recognize anyone, start up a conversation with the kid next to you. Be friendly but not too friendly. You don’t want them to think you’re clinging and stalkerish, because then they will most certainly not try to be friends with you. Shy people tend to have a hard time being the first one to start up a conversation. If this is you, just give them a smile. Smiling is the first step in starting a conversation. Ask them about their other classes or if they’ve heard anything about this teacher. Once you get past the awkward “don’t know what to talk about” stage, begin to ask them about their friends and family. Or what they like to do in their free time or on the weekends. You may never know what you have in common with that person till you get to know them.
The transition from middle school to high school may be a little different. It’s similar to middle school in a way that you move from class to class and you have six or seven different teachers. Although with high school comes more freedom; especially as you move up in grade. At most schools, the teachers let the upperclassmen leave campus for lunch and trust you to make the right decisions and be safe. With this new freedom, invite someone to go to lunch with you. It may be a little awkward at first to ask someone to lunch if you don’t know them very well, but this is an opportunity to get to know them. If you decide to stay at school for lunch, ask someone if you can sit with them. Nine times out of ten they’ll say yes. If they say no, then don’t fret about it and move on. Rude people are not worth your time.
Stepping out of your comfort zone is just one way to learn more effective social skills. If you continuously do something that makes you feel uncomfortable, you eventually become more familiar with the situation. Having these social skills will make it easier for you to approach people and be more assertive, which is something many people look for in a relationship or even when applying for a job.

Word Count: 470

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