5. Get over your fear of human contact.
After living in Hawai’i, I can officially call myself a “hugger”.
If we part ways and you don’t offer me a hug (kiss on the cheek for bonus points), our parting feels incomplete. Hawai’i did this to me.
The first few times I said goodbye to my local friends and they immediately went in for a goodbye hug and peck on the cheek, I balked. Okay fine, I actually
leaned awaylike they were attempting to lick my eyeball.
But I actually came to like such shows of goodwill and friendship. By the time I left Hawai’i, a hug goodbye
and hello did not seem strange at all. I even miss it.
For many Hawai’i locals, a hug is more than a greeting, it’s a physical welcoming or conveyance of acceptance. Dodging a hug can be like refusing a handshake — if not worse.
A lot of mainlanders are uncomfortable with the idea of such physical contact between acquaintances, but I really think that learning to accept hugging in Hawai’i is directly related to
embracing Hawai’i life.
Like my boss told me in those early days, you can’t fight the culture, you can’t fight Hawai’i. But the sooner you open yourself up to all the unique experiences Hawai’i holds, the sooner Hawai’i will not just be where you live, but the place you call home.