Familiar Faces

by Erin Newton

Familiar faces in an ocean of strangers. Familiar faces that bring a strange warmth within us.

I’m speaking from experience here that sometimes a familiar face is all you need to bring you a strange sense of peace. In many situations, we find ourselves in a new environment–due to work, studies, personal development or even hobbies. So often, we tend to gravitate towards people we know if they are present in these places or people who remind us of people we know.

In many ways, we start to ‘like’ people whom we only just passed in the hallways in school or build a sudden relationship with someone whom we were only introduced to once in a public setting.

‘Unity’, as Google describes it, is “the state of being united or joined as a whole”. And we are only a whole (group) through our similarities. Maybe we attended the same school. Maybe we worked on the same project or for the same company. Maybe we attend the same church. Maybe we have a mutual friend. That unity is built off common ground with persons.

This should lead us to remembering who we are: ‘What am I interested in? What are my goals? What are my values?’ Because yes, we always want to be around familiar persons but to choose and attract the right people, we must first know who these people are, and by default, who we are.

I urge you to reflect deeply within yourself with the following questions:

1. What are the five words I live by?
2. What are my core beliefs/values?
3. What progress in my life am I satisfied with?
4. In 10 years, what is my ideal picture of success? (As in if I achieve this, I will consider myself successful)

To meet the right people, we must start with first meeting ourselves.

Familiar persons and situations don’t necessarily mean we need to reconnect. While familiar persons bring comfort, sometimes uncomfortable change is what we need to thrive instead.

Familiar faces in an ocean of strangers. Familiar faces–do we really need to gravitate towards them or take an intentional pause?