What is my greatest fear?
The first time that I asked out a girl, I was 13 years old. I was terrified. I wanted to ask out Andrea. I thought Andrea was the prettiest girl in my class. I thought Andrea was a ten out of ten, who was out of my league. Andrea had blonde hair. I liked Andrea because she was fun to talk to and she was friendly.
During recess, my friends James and Monique literally pushed me towards Andrea’s locker to ask her out. I was scared. When I walked towards Andrea’s locker, I kept asking myself questions. What happens if Andrea said no? What was I going to say if Andrea said no? How would I handle being rejected by someone that I really cared about?
Finally, the moment of truth came. I arrived at Andrea’s locker. In that moment, I knew that I had to ask Andrea the question (or else I would be kicking myself later if I was too chicken to ask her out).
- Englebert: “Hey Andrea. I think you’re amazing. I wanted to know if you want to go out sometime.
- Andrea: “Do you mind if I take a couple days to think about it?”
- Englebert: “Sure, no problem.”
I knew that I was out of luck. It was a yes or no question. If you need two days to think about the answer, the answer is obviously no. A couple days later, Andrea said the following.
- Andrea: “Englebert, I think you’re a really great guy, but I just want to be regular friends.”
- Englebert: “Sure, that sounds good.”
- <Andrea then gave me a hug that was awkward, given the circumstances of her polite rejection>
Surprisingly, in the end, I was relieved. I had nothing to regret. I gave it my best shot. Getting rejected wasn’t the end of the world. I was happy that I had the guts to face my greatest fear. Now I could move on with my life instead of chasing after the same girl for several months.
As an adult, my greatest fear right now is finding a job. I haven’t been able to find a job for the past eight months since I was laid off. I’ve expanded my job search outside of Calgary in hopes that I can find work in another city.
