Facing My Fears

Today I did something I’ve been scared of all year. Now you might think I’m crazy or delusional when you hear what my fear is, but I can proudly say, I’ve conquered it.

            I am afraid to interview random people for anything I’m writing. I think it is scary to approach someone unknown to ask them a seemingly irrelevant question.

            And the crazy part…my major is journalism. I should have expected to have to do this at some point. I knew it was coming. So the question is why did I pick a career path where I knew I could not avoid that. The answer: I have no idea.

            In high school it was easy to interview random people because I knew everyone in my tiny school, and no one thought it strange when you asked them questions for the school newspaper.

            As an introvert, I find it difficult to easily make conversation with someone. I also fear bad attitudes from people who I approach. Earlier this year, when I would get stories that required random interviews, the people I talked to were unreceptive and gave terrible quotes.

            So when my last assignment for journalism was assigned, I panicked. The paper is to be a reaction piece with ten “person-on-the-street” interviews.

            What I found was not as scary as I thought it would be. I made sure to approach with a smile, a friendly greeting and the understanding that the interview wouldn’t take long. I got great responses from willing people.

            Am I still afraid of random interviews? Absolutely, but at least now I know they aren’t terribly scary. I faced my fears, challenged myself and came out unscathed and that much prouder of myself.

            My freshman year of college is quickly coming to a close. With one weekend left in the city, three days of classes left and two weeks until I go home, I am looking back at everything that has happened this year.

            In the next three weeks, I will be writing a three part series focusing on the different aspects of my year. So coming soon will be the first part examining my academic year.

            I’m learning so much this year, and facing my fears is just one thing I can say I accomplished with pride.