Connecting with family ---125

Well, we are here. We are less than a week away from Thanksgiving. A time where we we all come together and spend some quality time together. Even during these tough times, it is a good idea to spend time with your family, whether iot be in person or through online. However, for some, it may be difficult to connect with your family or that you want to but you can’t seem to find the words to say. You may be afraid to say the wrong things that might offend your family members and ruin what would normally be a nice holiday. Well, I am going to tell you a story on how I was able to connect with my family as well as how that experience was able to transfer to how I communicate at work. 

So this was back when I was in high school, I was not really on good terms with my family. We never really talked to each other and I wasn’t the most outgoing person. I was more of the introvert of the family, would only talk when someone would initiate the conversation with me first. The reason foir this was because I was a shy individual. I never really knew how to talk to others and this would translate to my family as well. So, I pretty much never really enjoyed holidays. Granted I would get along with my cousins who were my age just fine but with everyone else, I usually avoided. So, during my sophomore year of highschool, my parents told me that we would be heading down to Los Angeles for Thanksgiving to visit my relatives down there. Now, this surprised me at the time because we usually celebrated Thanksgiving where we lived in the Bay Area. This would be the first time that we would be heading to Los Angeles for Thanksgiving. We left for Los Angeles a day before Thanksgiving, and after braving through 8 hours of traffic, we finally arrived to my grandma’s house in Orange County. We were greeted by my grandmom and my aunts who lived there and of course ate dinner with them. The rest of my relatives, who were also from the Bay Area, arrived later that night. Since we were all tired from traveling down to Socal, I didn’t have to really talk to anyone from my family. However, the real test would happen the next day. We were eating breakfast at when my uncle tried to strike some conversation with me. This caught me off guard as this uncle in particular has never talked to me until now and second, I was planning to just spend the weekend just minding my own business. Of course, I responded but it was short and straightforward so that he would not have to talk to me anymore. However, he did not take the hint as he continued to talk to me and of course, I did not want to be rude, I continued to talk to him. This went on for another twenty minutes before he finally left me alone. Throughout that whole conversation, I was the most nervous than I have ever been in my life. However, that conversation also got me thinking. I began to think back at all the times my family had tried to connect with me but I have always just pushed them away and not talk to them. I began to really rethink how I act around my family and then decided to try and connect with my family. Thankfully, it was Thanksgiving so we had plenty of time to connect. For the next few days, I did my best to talk to my family and connect with them. Granted, it was pretty tough.  But eventually I was apple to talk with everyone and quite frankly, it was a good feeling. After this experience, I resolved myself to talk to others and eventually, over time I was able to become more outgoing. 

So, that is my story and now you may ask, how does this relate to working in an office? Well, if I hadn’t taken that first step then I wouldn’t have been able to learn the necessary skills needed to be able to communicate with others. If I had decided not to connect with my family that Thanksgiving, then I fel like I wouldn’t had changed much and my future would be really different. This also translate to the office because your personality and to be able to connect with your co-workers is key to having a productive work environment. So, being able to connect with my family during Thanks giving allowed me to start developing the skills I would need in the future and I hope it can be the same for you. Happy Thanksgiving from the staff at Linkstyle.