Personal Narrative Analysis

Words: 779
Pages: 4

Introversion was akin to a sanctuary throughout childhood as the struggle with social anxiety left me feeling powerless. Solitude was inherently an ineffective solution, but the other option being to directly engage with the fear itself seemed unthinkable. I could recognize the potential costs of my unwillingness to socialize though, and knew that the necessary path would be to overcome the anxiety. Overcoming anxiety would lead me to challenge myself to step well beyond what was comfortable. With a necessary determination to embrace the struggle, I began placing myself into all the social interactions that I could find. I would end up stumbling my way through conversations which sent spikes of adrenaline with every misstatement made. I quickly …show more content…
This position, which involves assisting deputies throughout the workday, is unique in that it exposes you to situations that are always changing, and offers little time to make formal plans before arriving on scene. You had to be able to communicate clearly and directly over a wide range of topics. Everyone wanted to talk —or yell— to you about what was going on, and I was there to attentively listen and provide rapport. It was definitely a position that I never thought I’d be in, but I am grateful to have had the opportunity. The nature of responding to calls forced me to abandon the crutch of thinking through interactions meticulously, and I now had to rapidly develop a generalized plan of how things might happen. This I found made me far more comfortable and relaxed. I went into social situations not worrying about all the things that could go wrong, and just embracing the fluidity of conversations. While I could still sense the pressure and stress developing, the repeated exposure to these complex situations had given me a means to better maintain composure. My time here was a crash course in taming my anxiety where I was challenged to quickly develop and deploy possible solutions while remaining calm and responsive so that I could give the best service to those in need. It began as what felt like an insurmountable task, but was quickly rendered into being possible as I remained committed to the goal at