Personal Narrative: The Red Cross Clinic

In my mind’s eye, I imagined the Red Cross Clinic to be an immaculate and pristine building filled with the hum of machinery and plenty of strangers. However, I could not have been more wrong. The cozy atmosphere, though, did nothing to calm my nerves. Once I introduced myself to a nurse, I realized that there would be no doubt that my lack of people-skills would be obvious to anyone. My goal to speak up with confidence to more people for 48 hours had already began to seem like an experience I would deplore. An hour later, the desire to stay hidden or buried within my book arose. But every time I stole another glance at my book, I remembered why I had resolved to speak up more. There had been too many lost chances and opportunities for

me to keep being shy and soft-spoken. This experience was to be a stepping stone to speak up more and I wasn’t going to waste it sulking in a corner behind my desk.
As time passed, the arrival of donors continued and I began to eagerly anticipate the arrival of someone new. The book I had bought to keep me occupied from the new faces, laid neglected at the corner of my desk. Instead, I occupied myself with donors who told me of their experiences of the Red Cross. One donor’s story, especially stood out to me. While waiting for the nurse to draw the donor’s blood, the donor told me how the Red Cross tracks blood donations and sends donors an email about where their donations were sent and who used them. From this I realized that despite my misgivings at first, speaking up and going out of my comfort zone helped me learn much more about the Red Cross than I could have on my own. Starting my deliberate living activity at Red Cross helped me speak up more the next day as well. At my SAT class the next morning, I found myself to be more engaged in the conversations with my teacher than usual. I also felt more enthusiastic about learning the material because I was able to communicate with my teacher and clear my mistakes quickly. This undoubtedly helped me be more productive throughout the rest of the day as well because I was more open to asking the ideas of my friends and parents. As the day concluded, I found myself reflecting how to implement speaking up more often in my daily life. I expect for it to be difficult for a while, however, it will be worth the effort.