Co-existing with unfamiliarity.

There's one thing which neither our society nor the education system has ever focused on - Unfamiliarity.

The primary reason for taking up this topic is the reaction we give while encountering them; mocking, fear, disapproval, anger, disregard. Sounds weird? Well, why don't you hop in? This is gonna be an intriguing ride ~excited for no reason XD~

Firstly, let's understand what exactly is 'Unfamiliarity' in this context? Here, Unfamiliarity is mainly referred to unfamiliar 'people' or 'situations'. Now, think about the last time you faced an unfamiliar environment, it's very likely that you didn't react in the most optimal way and rather your instinct wasn't something you would or rather should be proud of. Because, Isn't it weird that we get in an attack mode when there's a person who is of a different background or a different race or maybe just a different culture? We, by default have the tendency to get frightened with unfamiliarity and hence try to establish a superiority over it instead of trying to co-exist and get familiar.

According to a study, Children can easily recognize if a person is from a different race, our brains are wired to know that and adults naturally process familiar faces with almost twice as efficiently as unfamiliar faces. Rather, we tend to treat 'threat' in the same way when we or a person of 'familiarity' is threatened but this doesn't stand true when a person of 'unfamiliarity' is threatened. Ouch? It's true, we are less empathic towards the unfamiliar people. Don't be hard on yourself you sweet soul, our brains are just wired to behave in that manner.

But is this a matter of concern?

Some of you might think, "But we are not gonna go and live at different places why does it concern us? We are happy with this." Well, yes, if one is content with being in the limited exposure, good for them but this really becomes a concern when even though we in a country with such diverse cultures, it's very common to see people being treated differently. I mean, there's a big chunk of our country which is well, ignored by the rest of the country just because they don't 'look' like us. Kudos! We've reached a new level of self-esteem and superiority by showing that they don't belong here.

I understand you would need a better reason to work on this, we're so ignorant, aren't we? Understandable.

Why do we need to work on this?

Okay, the reason here is, self growth. Every situation, Every person bring in some sort of values with them, just imagine if you treat the 'Unfamiliarity' with fear, disapproval, anger, and disregard it with mocking at it, we are restricting ourselves to a limited exposure and not exploring the experiences the other person carries or the potential of a new situation has to make you wiser.

Therefore, don't do this for the Unfamiliarity but for yourself, we need to learn how to deal and exist with unfamiliarity for our own good. Next time, you're following your instinct, try to critically analyse your instinct and lemme know if you reacted in a different way than you would do normally!

This was me, Anirude signing off from this week's 'Talk', just incase you've managed the struggle of reading this vague excerpt, consider subscribing to the blog(just check the bottom of this page or the Home page), I only send positivity. Apparently, I'm only good at that. Oh, not that as well? I'm gonna treat you like an Unfamiliar person now!

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