Everybody was new somewhere once. Be the person you wish had waved you over.

You already know what a new room feels like, because everybody has been dropped into one: a class, a team, a first shift. The memory fades fast once you belong somewhere, which is how people who were welcomed last year stop noticing the person standing alone this year. Nobody is being cruel about it. The details of being new just stop being available to you.

Borrow the memory on purpose when you see somebody on the edge of a group. Wave them over, no speech, just a seat and an ordinary question. It takes a minute and it is what you remember about whoever did it for you.