Are people the best thing that can happen to people?

How many of you have sat staring at your phones, waiting for the light on the 5.4-6.2 inch screen to flash. You sit waiting, because that’s all you can do. The phone lies on your bed in front of your neatly criss-crossed legs and you impatiently fiddle your thumbs. You unsuccessfully try to distract yourself from this anticipation.

Finally, the ding sounds, indicating that you have gotten a text. You almost jump out of your skin with pure glee. It’s the same sensation as taking a bite of kettlecorn and realizing it’s the one coated in all of the excess sugar.   

In that moment, when you see their name pop up, nothing else seems to matter.

This one text means so much more than those few simple words that appear on the now luminous iPhone screen. This text means that someone consciously took time out of their day to send you a message, which means that they were thinking about you.

We make more of an impact on people than we know.

A text from the right person can make your whole day. It can flip the worst day into the best day. However, if the text never comes, your day will be flipped from the best day into the worst day.

Whether it is short lived or long term, this text has changed you, or at least your mood. Your shift in mood will affect how you approach certain situations throughout the rest of the day.

This leaves so much power into the hands of someone else. Every day, we give other people an immense amount of power to potentially hurt us. This trust can either end in a disaster, or it can end in a happily ever after.  

I like to think that I’m an optimist. I try to see the best in people and give them the benefit of the doubt. One thing I know for sure is that people 100% have the power to change people, and I believe that we need to let them. We need to let our guards down, in order to let people in.

The question then remains, “Is it for our benefit or detriment?”  

I got onto a plane in Chicago a few weeks ago flustered and annoyed. The airport had lost my luggage from my previous flight, my phone was about to die, and all I wanted to do was watch a movie. And of course, with my luck, there were no TV’s.

I sat down in my seat next to a boy I later identified as Josh; I had never met Josh before. I took out my computer with the mindset that I would spend the next four hours writing an article until we landed in LA.  

I took a deep breath wrote, “people are the best thing that can happen to people”.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the mysterious boy staring at my computer screen. As if it was his que, Josh directed his attention towards me and asked I honestly believed people are the best thing that can happen to people. It really made me think about my previous belief that I had felt so strongly in.

Josh and I talked the whole four-hour flight. For some reason, I felt an inclination to trust a stranger sitting next to me on a plane. This boy, one who I will probably never see again, was able to open up to me, as I was to him.

Sometimes trusting other people can pay off.

There are some shitty people in this world, but there also amazing people. In this sea of uncertainty, we need to lower our guards. They can still be standing, but if they are always kept up, we are secluding ourselves from potentially life changing opportunities.

It’s worth the risk. If you don’t put yourself out there, you will be limiting yourself from extraordinary things. We need to have faith.

If we let them, people have the power to shape us, and leave positive marks on our minds. People can make you laugh when you need it most. People can lend a shoulder to cry on. People can even make a four-hour plane ride bearable.

But most of all, people can surprise you. Letting our guards down can be scary, but if we always keep a brick wall up in front of our souls, we are denying the people who can shape us most.

When we let people in, we are giving them power over our emotions. It can be terrifying. However, we can’t let our fear from a negative experience with one person change our opinion about people in general. Just because one person hurt you doesn’t mean the next one will.

In my opinion, it’s a risk that we need to be willing to take in order to grow.

I have come to the conclusion that people can be the best thing that happen to people. It is not definite, but if we let them, people can be pretty empowering.