Out of my Comfort Zone

We are all exposed to situations in which we do not feel 100% comfortable in. It is crucial to be in this kind of situations if we want to grow as people. However, going out of our comfort zones means that we will be exposed to environments where we are not fluent in. We can be surrounded by people that speak the same language as us but speak and act in a very different way that we are used to.

In “Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics” James Paul Gee explains discourses and how they are molded by not only speaking, but also by acting cohesively to what the people are saying. Gee states that “people can know perfectly the grammar of a language and not know how to use that language. It is not just what you say, but how you say it” (5). In other words, it is not just that actions can speak louder than words, but the fact that they go hand in hand with each other. Nonverbal communication is just as important as the verbal part of a conversation.

I was in my junior year of high school and was looking for a place to do my community service. My aunt told me to apply at the company she worked at, Child Development Associates, Inc., because the Human Resources department accepted volunteers to help them out. They called me back and we set a schedule for me to come in and volunteer at their office after school, three times a week.

To say I was nervous was an understatement. Something that you should know about me is that I am the kind of person to be stressed about almost everything I do. Also what does not help is having stress related insomnia, which basically makes it impossible for me to sleep when I feel stress or I am nervous about something.

It would be my first taste to a real professional world. A world where people drink coffee throughout the day dressed in business attire and spoke in a very educated manner. First of all, Julianna and coffee do not mix well. I really like the taste of bitter coffee, but unfortunately, for some reason I feel sick and start to shake whenever I drink it. Second, I did not own any business appropriate clothes. And thirdly, I did not feel that my English was at their level. However, these were not acceptable excuses, I had to own up to the situation and get the show on the road. It was completely new territory for me, it made me feel very nervous, but I would be lying if I said that I was not excited to get a gist of what the office environment was like.

 It is not that I felt uncomfortable, because everyone was very welcoming, but at first, I felt out of place. Being surrounded by older and professional people, whom had successfully graduated college and pursued a career in their field was intimidating. Then there was me, about 16 years old, not really knowing what I wanted to study in college. So… in words of Gee, I had to “mushfake” my first few days in CDA. Once you get the hang of it, it becomes easier and you start speaking and acting like the people that surround you.

Overall, I had a great experience volunteering at CDA for four months. All of the staff was very welcoming, I did many exciting projects for them and I feel like I learned many things in the few months that I was there.

           

Julianna