In the Christakis and Fowler chapter entitled “It’s In Our
Nature,” they mention the Worlds Collide Theory. This states that if your
significant other is introduced to your group of friends, that both worlds
experience an upheaval. I can attest to a somewhat innate desire to separate
the two worlds in my life.
I have
been with my boyfriend for two years now. I am also a member of the
Northeastern Alpine Ski Team, for which a very tightly knit (yet calamitous)
group of people travel long distances every weekend for two months each Spring
semester and spend over 48 hours at a time together. This dedication of two
sevenths of your time for about a sixth of your year brings together seemingly
incompatible personalities as the closest of friends. Further, a week-long
training camp each December means living, eating, skiing, and doing what
college students do together at all times of the day. Needless to say, the vast
variety of personalities tend to collide by the end of each season (and
throughout the year).
My time
with my boyfriend has transcended three alpine skiing seasons, and he has yet
to meet the vast majority of my teammates. This, to me, is as it should be. A
volatile mix of personalities usually breeds disaster for relationships, as I
have seen countless times with my teammates (and myself). Couples who are both
members of the team and couples where only one member is on the team have come
tearing apart, and in order to protect my relationship from this disastrous scene,
I have prevented the collision of my two worlds. Despite my nature where I
always seek to introduce my friends to each other, the worlds collide theory
may provide insight into why my personal Facebook network is so segmented after
all.
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