As we get older, we become the only ones in charge of overseeing and creating the environments we wish to live, interact, and grow in. Ideally, these environments challenge us and help us nurture ourselves into being the best version of ourselves. Openness plays a big role in that; being open and having an impartial and accepting mindset can help you move forward towards your goals and learn new things about yourself and others along the way. This is especially true during your time at Illinois.
While it may sound cliché, you can always learn something new from everyone you meet if you set your mind to it. Openness can come in many ways including simple conversations and making the effort to truly listen to someone else’s experiences and point of view. Most conversations we have during the day are trivial, but what do you think would happen if you were not afraid to ask about more complicated and deep subjects. By being open you can develop your empathy skills, be a better listener, and challenge yourself to think and view things from a perspective that you might have not even thought about before.
These types of interactions are crucial if you wish to be successful in today’s society. As globalization keeps expanding, all our environments become more diverse. But do not make the mistake that diversity equals inclusivity. You can reap the rewards of openness by applying you've previously acquired knowledge to new situations. These efforts to be open-minded and then apply to different situations will reap their rewards when unexpected situations do not take you by surprise anymore.
Developing those skills in your daily life will put you in a position of leadership and give you the opportunity to make important decisions; both in your personal and professional life. In your professional life, it will give you the ability to translate people’s backgrounds into applicable skills for a job and relate to them on a personal level. A manager, boss, or leader that can understand and relate to his or her employees and coworkers is always more successful than those who do not. As far as solving problems, openness turns into critical and rational thinking. It allows you to see one problem from all points of view and see what factors are influencing it. This type of ability can be hard to develop.
Openness can be hard to come to terms with because often you will find yourself questioning your own ideas and confused on what is considered moral or not. However, this can prove to be a positive pattern to adopt since today’s society is constantly changing its morals. On a personal level, openness is understanding that we might not agree with what others think or say but still respect them and their ideas. More often than not, this leads to the idea of common ground, or “agree to disagree”; while this might not be the end goal of a conversation it can lead to being on better terms with another person and respecting their individuality.
Reflecting on my experiences as an international student-athlete, in more than one country, I can only speak positively about openness. So far in my life, it has brought me professional opportunities, the ability to make friends wherever I go, and the most important one; to constantly grow as a person. For me it has become a habit to question my own beliefs and actions that follow them; to see if they would be considered moral for me and for others around me. Therefore, I encourage you all to look for these opportunities for growth and develop a mindset of openness towards new experiences and beliefs, especially during your time at Illinois.
