As humans, we subconsciously crave known environments.

Even the most daring of thrill-seekers (myself included) can’t help but feel disoriented in the first few moments of a new experience, regardless of the excitement that threatens to overtake us.

In these disorienting moments, the presence of something familiar can wash away the initial anxiety that surfaces in foreign environments.

The most apparent example is culture shock.

I have personally experienced culture shock many times.

However, the surprise wasn’t the lack of my native language but rather the change in natural sounds.

Even in traveling to the east coast, the bird songs were different, and this cemented and highlighted the elements that made me feel out of place.

At the time, I believed I hid it well: I acted as if everything was perfectly fine and normal.

It became so bad that I started to miss out on enjoying the full experience of the events presented to me because I was so invested in my discomfort.

It wasn’t until one of my classmates approached me that I started to come out of my head.

She simply asked “Are you doing okay?”

This statement was the catalyst: all my emotions rushed out.

She wasn’t expecting a simple response and that assumption allowed me to fully unpack my emotions and start to deal and identify my issue.

Truly, someone investing the time to ask how I was doing changed the overall experience of my trip.

I believe empathy is the key to changing the world, and it is a concept that has been sorely lacking in recent years.

Some people blame the decrease of empathy on the rise of technology, their reasoning being that a screen decreases the connection between two people, thereby distancing individuals from one another.

Others blame this phenomenon on changes in political systems.

Some people blame the decrease of empathy on the rise of technology, their reasoning being that a screen decreases the connection between two people, thereby distracting individuals from one another.  Others blame this phenomenon on changes in political systems.

Though I believe both sides present interesting theories, I think that blaming certain vague principles takes away focus from the main issue and delays actions of change from occurring.

Rather, we must focus on improving ourselves and our reactions to our surroundings (an easier task to accomplish than a grand, poorly defined idea).

We must become truly invested and engrossed in our world and the people who inhabit it, investing our time into the issues we passionately value.

Empathy, in short, is investing the time and energy into understanding and asking about people’s lives and their unique experiences.

Only through empathy can any strong connections be formed and with these connections true social change can occur.

Yet, the question still remains: how does one prompt this social change?

We must become truly invested and engrossed in our world and the people who inhabit it, investing our time into the issues we passionately value.

How can one realize these ideas into one’s own daily life?

We need to begin by actually investing time into getting to know others, even something as simple as taking a moment to check in with others.

Yet, there are a few things to keep in mind.

If you took the time to ask, make sure to listen to the response.

Invest yourself in the person’s story: their feelings, emotions, thoughts.

Validate their experiences with your own response.

This method is the easiest way to increase empathy in the world and the concept applies not only to face-to-face interactions, but also in regards to how one views the world.

For example, when watching the news we have a tendency to tune out, we rationalize that these events have nothing to do with us.

Yet, as a global citizen and member of humanity, we have a duty to ‘tune’ in.

We have a duty to debate these issues even if we cannot take direct action, for our dialogues may prompt someone into action.

In taking an active role in molding our world, we can start to shape it into a place our generation can be proud to call home.

With Thanksgiving coming up, it is more apparent than ever that a spirit of empathy is present.

While it is important to keep this in mind, it is even more important to keep empathy at the forefront of our minds during the non-holiday season.

It is easy to be empathetic when one is continuously thinking about the ‘holiday spirit’ but it is harder to do so when one is caught up in the stresses of daily life.

In a world of turmoil, if you can change one person’s day, that might lead them to change someone else’s day, leading to a chain reaction to better the world.

This idea is why it is important that we don’t distance ourselves from others.

Focus on making connections, solid, true connections, and both your life and the life of the other person you impact will be imbued with more positive energy.

When we distance ourselves, we lose sight of what it means to be human, leading to the overall degradation of humanity.