I’ve been running into people I met during Boulder Startup Week around town like you wouldn’t believe lately. It’s so cool and I feel like I’m growing into a community, rather than shifting about the masses in my day to day routine. But, what I find really interesting is the feeling I get when I see someone who I shared a moment with the last time I was in town during Startup Week… it’s like the possibility of sharing ideas and possibly even working with them makes me giddy. It’s not just passing someone by that you saw wasted at a party or bar last weekend, or maybe someone who you see at your office job that you never talk to really. It’s an incentive, even for introverts like myself to ask how someone else is doing that day, see what they’re working on and maybe share a coffee and a few minutes.
For some strange reason, I have particularly strong memories of certain social gatherings as I grew up that signaled a right of passage or new phase of my life. The first Young Writer’s Conference that I ever went to will always feel like it was just yesterday in my mind and the undergraduate orientation I went to at UMass Dartmouth, where I studied my first two years of college is equally fresh in my mind. I was a natural introvert being thrown into a really hectic and fast paced environment meant to be structured enough for people to get what they needed out of it, but also loose enough so that people’s creativity and personalities were not stifled.
I don’t always get this feeling at big events. Typically at over-crowded house parties where I don’t know anyone, I’m ready to take my beer and go sit in the corner if things get too crazy (or I go ahead and get crazy myself) and during massive conferences where people get shuffled around like cattle between speakers and speed networking events, I’d rather go sit outside on the steps and read a book.
The differentiators, in my eyes, is the purpose of what comes after the gathering, probably not so much what goes on during it. The events and goings-on are stimulation to create memories and conversation, but is that enough? Does an event that lasts a few days reverberate in meaningful ways into the future?
I’d say yes, it can.
At the Young Writer’s Conference, i met other people who thought it was okay to be nerdy and geek out about fiction and poetry and I’d see them around and about Worcester writing events or even see them published in local newspapers and literary journals.
College orientation was cool too because everyone’s running around, feeling a new type of freedom from their childhood lives and a complete uncertainty about the future, but you’re still able to bond over exciting classes, clubs to join, road trips to take and maybe who’s going to date who the coming semester. Then you see these people around campus for the rest of the year, you maybe even become good friends with them and spend four years with them… maybe more.
I feel like as adults, we miss feelings from our youth that seem entirely lost. I even have a tendency of forgetting entire events or feelings associated with them because I figure what’s the point in dwelling over it if I can’t have it anymore? I’m trying to conjure up more of these memories and feelings as I’m wading through this new life that I’m making for myself.
I had a hunch I’d be moving to Boulder a long time ago. So, when I run into people who I chatted with at a social gathering over a month ago and they remember my name, what I do and congratulate me on moving to Boulder, it makes me even more excited for the semesters… nyet… months and years ahead and where these friendships, potential jobs, gigs and good times will take me.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
What a great way to look at Networking- maybe if we thought of it like that we wouldn’t be afraid to do it after college!
I always knew that you would eventually find your nest, though early on I am not sure either of us could have identified where it would be, we both knew it would not be Worcester, and likely would not be Massachusetts. I would like to comment on you being an “introvert”, I only agree with this to a point. I would say that you fall somewhere between introvert and extrovert, depending on your social setting. I have seen you in the moment, and you know how to bask in it and seize it, but in the same breath I have seen you retreat to your shell.
I bring this up because it seems that no matter how “introverted” you might view yourself to be, you have always been able to surround yourself with interesting people and you have always been able to put yourself into interesting settings. Rock on dude!
JR, I’m loving the change in your blog. It’s apparent that your move has inspired you and you’re churning out great posts left and right.
@Jake, thanks a lot man, I’m enjoying my new settings and feeling more inspired every day. Let’s keep it moving and hope to see more from you too!
@Steve, thanks dude. You know me better than most and I must say, if anything’s brought me out of my shell it’s being around you and the rest of the crew over the years. Hopefully the interesting scenes keep rolling for the both of us!
@Patrick, yeha man, being afraid of it and understanding it are obstacles, but I feel more people are getting better at it. It’s all about how you structure your experiences and also let things just happen. Gotta cultivate the best of everything you’re handed, ya know?
Really enjoyed this post. I think it’s silly how sometimes people think it is “wrong” to share information like how much debt you have from student loans. I myself think it is important to expose to others, and like you did, evaluate whether your outstanding debt correlates with the education it paid for!
@Laura, thanks a lot! I think if you don’t question the status quo, you’re bound to get screwed like the masses. Most of what’s handed to us is sub quality. Not to say you can’t get an education for a fair price, but I sure as hell had NO idea how to do it when I was 17!