I'm emailing this to my blog from my phone because I kind of doubt I'll want to write it later when I get home. It's very possible I'd forget to post altogether.
If you know me in real life, you know I'm awkward. Even more so when you put me in a situation that is out of my comfort zone. Case in point: tonight.
Every year, Habitat for Humanity hosts these dances for local high schools, and the cost of the tickets goes towards their work. It's a win-win for area teenagers-- you get to socialize and "dance" with the added bonus of seeing people from other schools and pretending that all of that is merely to benefit charity.
I avoid such things on principle, but I kind of regret missing out on some of these events in the past. Tonight, however was the neon dance, and for the first time in my high school years, I went.
I can't say I was really impressed. It was exactly what I expected, and I was so far out of my comfort zone that I couldn't even fully enjoy it.
I fully believe that everybody should try something out of their comfort zone at least once. But, I understand the reluctance, too. Because doing something completely different from what you would normally is TERRIFYING. It's awkward and you look around constantly, searching some other option-- like escape.
There's nothing that quite makes you feel so powerless (and, again, awkward) as being in a room full of people that know what they're doing while you cross your fingers and your arms and try to maintain the carefully constructed mask of indifferent confidence. Especially when all you really want to do is bury your face in your hands and run from the room, maybe even screaming, but potentially crying because it's AWFUL.
But you don't and you walk around and breathe (in my case, breathing in the heavy scent of sweat, body heat, and booze...) and hope that by the end of the night you find some semblance of courage.
The thing is, even out of my comfort zone, horribly and awkwardly out of place like christmas carols in July, there is something to learn in moments like these. However, I have yet to know what, exactly. I'll let you know :)
A demain!
-Aly
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
awh gross
ReplyDeletein my experience, such events are more fun with groups of people that you know...
yesterday i got to watch the mating strategies of umass men and mount holyoke girls at a party i had to work for security
3 hours of standing...and smelling *humans*
MOUNT HOLYOKE GIRLS FTW YASMINA! Except when they're smashed and gross...
ReplyDeleteANYWAYS, Aly, I love how you talked about the awkward high school dance. What my friends and I used to do for stuff like that (and, being honest, we still do this) included dressing outrageously and then taking over the dance floor with our super-awesome, non-grinding, mainly-jumping-around dance moves. Fake it 'til you make it, right?
People thought we were weird but high school is soooo not the end-all, be-all. Good for you for pushing your limits!