Day 12 of the Awkward Moments Experiment.
Ask yourself, “What is one action I can do to be braver?”
Wednesday October 12th, 2011. 5:50PM.
I walked to one of the emptiest places on campus.
To describe it:
-There is a path to the right that leads into one of the oldest buildings. Ironically it’s called Young.
-To the left are huge steps that lead into an underground area for advising, part of another huge building. The grey walls and dome-shaped ball on top make it feel like it came from Star Wars.
The whole scene was vast and quiet.
Even the white benches seemed lonely sitting there.
I decided to sit down at one of the white benches. I was waiting for a club meeting that began at 6:10PM.
5:55PM.
Someone ended up sitting near me on one of the steps, next to my bench. She took out a book and started reading it.
I was handed a beautiful chance to be awkward. I took it.
I walked up to her and stated, “Hi, what book are you reading?”
During this moment, I had no idea what she was reading. I guessed that she was reading something I wouldn’t know.
She turned the book, which didn’t have a cover.
I saw the printed text on the first page: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. One of my all-time favorite books.
My mind splattered its wave of emotion into a slight smirk on my face.
I commented, “Wow, that’s awesome. What part are you at in the story?”
She shared that she was about two-thirds into the book where the female and the savage were headed to New Mexico. She stated this in great detail.
I ended up using that to talk about what I thought about past scenes in that novel, especially the first chapters.
I hadn’t read that book since my sophomore year in high school (five years ago). She totally resonated because she was re-reading the book to gain a better understanding of it.
After sharing more stories within that novel, we recommended other novels to one another.
I asked her to write down her recommendations to me.
As she was writing, I noticed her lovely southpaw style. “Lefty? Good choice.” She laughed: “Yeah I totally decided to pick that hand just now. Kidding.”
We also joked about how the scenery around us was like a high school, so maybe our “high-school recommended” novels weren’t so out of place after all.
As she finished writing the second book, I told her, “Well I better be going. What’s your contact? Write it down too. It would be cool to chat again.”
She wrote down her e-mail.
We’ll be meeting again.
——
All you need to gain more bravery is to be [socially] impulsive. Sometimes, great things come out of it. The scene described above is proof.
