There are people who change our lives in a loud way and ones who stay more quiet. Throughout your life, you meet many new people — most of them probably stay more quiet. The encounters you have with them almost always happen by chance and seem minor: in a café, at work or in a new city. But exactly those encounters are the ones that change the way you see yourself and the world, often without you even noticing immediately.
When you meet new people, you don’t only meet a person but a whole universe: Everyone brings their own small universe with them wherever they go. Different values, different stories, different fears, different behaviours, their own rhythms, rules, and dreams. And every time you meet someone new, your own world expands a little bit as you get a sneak into theirs.
When I first arrived here in Thessaloniki, I moved into a house with 20 strangers; one kitchen, one living room, and one shower room for all of us. Every single one of those people came here from a different part of the world, a different country, a different city. And each one brought different ideas, experiences, and values with them to our house. And it wasn’t until I went back home to visit my family that I noticed how much I had grown and developed as a person.
When we meet someone new, we are briefly invited into a way of thinking that is not our own. We listen, observe, compare — often without realizing it. These moments quietly challenge the assumptions we have about how life should be lived, reminding us that our perspective is only one of many.
New People, new Realities
Some people introduce you to thoughts and ideas you would have never had on your own. Someone who makes you speak louder, think more clearly, or be braver. Oftentimes, you only notice later that, subconsciously, you adapted something from the other person: a new point of view on life, and sometimes even small habits. And that’s how personal growth happens: slowly, in small steps and through people who expand our world.
Other perspectives make us see things differently, we long thought we had figured out. They make us reevaluate our own values and sometimes even abandon them. We notice that there is more than one “correct” way to experience and see things. The difference this makes is, at first, almost unnoticeable. A thought you suddenly express differently, a choice you make more conciously or a calmer way you react to trouble. But you slowly adapt small pieces of their point of view — not as a copy but as an expansion of your own world.
Often, these changes don’t announce themselves immediately. They slip into our thoughts quietly, revealing themselves only over time. What once felt insignificant begins to show its influence in subtle ways.
Small Encounters, big Effect
Not every person stays in your life for a long time; some only appear shortly, maybe even just once.
But because they are so casual, we keep them in mind even longer. They remind us that connections often happen when we least expect them. Meeting them requires overcoming anxiety and the fear of rejection, which strengthens you and makes you more open to the unknown. Not every encounter feels easy or natural. Some conversations make us uncomfortable, challenge our beliefs, or confront us with opinions we do not agree with. Yet even these moments shape us. They force us to reflect, to define our values more clearly, and sometimes to accept that understanding does not always require agreement.
The way we meet new people also changes over time. Something that used to impress us may seem boring now, and something that used to scare us suddenly feels natural or even exciting. As we grow, so does our ability to connect. We become more selective, but also more open in the ways that truly matter.
Every new person acts as a mirror. Through them, we see not only different lives, but also different versions of ourselves — who we were, who we are becoming, and who we might want to be.
Maybe the most meaningful part of meeting new people is that it shows us we are never finished. Our views, our beliefs, even our personality, are always able to change. As long as we stay curious and open, every encounter brings us the possibility of development.
Every person we meet leaves a footprint — and with every encounter, our world gets a bit bigger.
