The walls are plain. The air is a predictable 3 degrees too cold. It smells far too sanitized. A couple of photographs of people smiling hung on the wall attempt to make the room feel more pleasant. My hands impatiently tap, waiting for the diagnosis. A lady in a white coat enters the room. "It's Walking Pneumonia," she says. "We'll have to give you a shot to help you feel better." This is what I was afraid of. I cannot stand shots. My face becomes paler and paler. My heart rate increases. "But, is it necessary?" I stammer back. "We strongly recommend it," she returns. Instantly, a hundred excuses run through my head. How can I get out of this? For most people, this is no big deal, but my irrational fear gets the best of me. After a few more moments of letting the dread build up, I finally burst out of the room and tell the doctors I will not be taking the shot. I promptly get in my car and head home.
On the way back, I felt relieved. I felt like I did something good. I avoided some unnecessary pain and got away from my fears. It was not until I pulled into my driveway that I started to realize that this was not a success at all. I was a coward. I ran away from a minuscule amount of pain that is designed to help me. There is no rational reason to hurry out of the office without getting the shot. Instead of overcoming my fear, I fled from it. It may seem like a silly thing to run away from, but maybe this failure is exactly what I needed to see how ridiculous my fear really was. Instead of trying to come up with an excuse to get out of the situation, I should be thinking of ways to overcome whatever obstacle may lie before me. So whether it is giving a thesis presentation in front of the entire school or simply getting a shot at the doctor's office, escaping the situation does nothing for you, but overcoming a challenge brings an invaluable lesson. As I watched Alfonso Cuarón's Gravity, I noticed a similar idea being explored through Ryan Stone's character. Ryan runs from her daughter's death in fear of facing the past. This failure to confront her fear is what haunts Ryan even thousands of miles away floating in space. Obviously, Ryan Stone's situation is much more dramatic, but the underlying idea of both failures is similar in that we failed to confront what we feared and chose to the easy way out instead.
On the way back, I felt relieved. I felt like I did something good. I avoided some unnecessary pain and got away from my fears. It was not until I pulled into my driveway that I started to realize that this was not a success at all. I was a coward. I ran away from a minuscule amount of pain that is designed to help me. There is no rational reason to hurry out of the office without getting the shot. Instead of overcoming my fear, I fled from it. It may seem like a silly thing to run away from, but maybe this failure is exactly what I needed to see how ridiculous my fear really was. Instead of trying to come up with an excuse to get out of the situation, I should be thinking of ways to overcome whatever obstacle may lie before me. So whether it is giving a thesis presentation in front of the entire school or simply getting a shot at the doctor's office, escaping the situation does nothing for you, but overcoming a challenge brings an invaluable lesson. As I watched Alfonso Cuarón's Gravity, I noticed a similar idea being explored through Ryan Stone's character. Ryan runs from her daughter's death in fear of facing the past. This failure to confront her fear is what haunts Ryan even thousands of miles away floating in space. Obviously, Ryan Stone's situation is much more dramatic, but the underlying idea of both failures is similar in that we failed to confront what we feared and chose to the easy way out instead.