Individuals tend to show only 10% of their “image” that they want to be recognized by other people. The goofiness, quirks, crazy fears, and estranged past experiences are kept below the surface of the individual. The real self. I recently attended a meeting for Peer Education, a new organization on CNU`s campus. We were presented with our lesson for the meeting: “If You Really Knew Me.” The purpose of the lesson was to share with the group something that would bring you out of your comfort zone, being able to share the real you and to open up your underlying 90% to others. I immediately built up with anxiety and could barely move. The idea of expelling all of these true underlying elements of my life to strangers?! Anxiety feels completely different for everyone. For me, I feel my heart racing, my face flushes, uncontrollable sweating, and immediate fear. All my psych peeps know that the sympathetic nervous system is revving up ready to attack for “fight or flight”. I listened to three other stories of personal struggles, and I felt like I was going to vomit. The end goal is to be able to break out of your own mental prison, jump out of your comfort zone, and in the end you will be better off from it. You are only hurting yourself if you don’t let yourself out of your own mental prison. I needed more time to prepare what I was going to say. I had no idea how I was going to do this without crying. I finally let my guard down, and it opened the floodgates. I shared my struggles with anxiety and the emotions of feeling alone through it all, how I have had my own personal battle for the past four years. The immediate acceptance and warm embraces of my new friends was completely indescribable, people who completely get it. This past week I had my worst week of college so far. I now have new friends to count on and a newer outlook on life.
If you want to be a part of an accepting family and have some fun in the community, contact Kyle DeGood.