All Because I Asked

I’ve never been super secure with myself. I have always had a little bit of doubt in my mind for myself at times. When I ask questions my words slur, almost like I do not know what I’m talking about. I’ve tried to work with myself on that aspect in life. I’ve tried to convert my life into something that will help my future. I think being an introvert and not being able to talk and stand up for yourself will not help in life. Having a voice is important in life because you want people to respect you and you want to make sure your ideas and opinions are valued in life.

I remember a time in my life where I was not confident in myself or my abilities and I was kind of self conscious. I was self conscious to speak and especially to ask any type of questions. I remember a time in my life and I was about 15 years old. I was walking around a mall I had never been before with one of my friends and my mom and my friends mom. My mom and my friends mom thought that they could walk around without us because we were mature 15 year old’s and we actually were going to shop around at different stores. The stores were outlet stores with a lot of huge deals so me and my friend were excited to find some deals and spend some money. When my mom and my friends mom left us they told us to meet them at a certain food outlet at 2. There was so many outlets my friend and I did not know where to start first. We had went all the way to one end and actually started to get lost, we had forgotten how we had got there in the first place.

My phone was dead and I couldn’t contact anyone. My friend at the time did not have a phone. I was not sure how to get back to the food place. There were so many other people around us and it was 1:50pm we had to be at the food place at 2. I asked my friend “how are we going to get back there in time?” We both were not sure how to get back and there were so many people around us which started to stress us out. We were done shopping at this point and were ready to head back. But we had no clue how to get back we did not have a map or anything of that sorts. I tried to buy a charger at one of the local shops but then realized that I couldn’t use it because there were no outlets near us. I thought it would be embarassing to ask someone where to go because I was 15 and thought I knew everything. My friend was introverted and did not speak much, especially to people she did not know. My friend was the type fo friend that did not talk on the phone and made her mom do it more than half the time.

We decided to ask a middle aged lady where to go, she said “I don’t know, this is my first time in the area.” She was no help to us. We then tried to ask someone else as well another middle aged lady with her dog. She told us “It’s right over there!” so my friend and I went that way and she was wrong and when we went back to ask her again and she was gone. She had sent us the wrong way. At this point we started to get hopeless and started to give up and then we found a place to sit down and chill for a little bit. We waited for about an hour at this point it was 2:53 almost a whole hour after we were supposed to be at the food place. This older couple went by and asked us “are you two alright?” We told them “we have no idea where this pizza place is.” The old couple walked us to the pizza shop right down the street the opposite way of the lady with the dog. Our parents were there waiting for us. They asked us where we were the whole time and we told them that we had no idea where we were going. We thanked the old couple for taking us to the pizza shop. Then we went and got pizza and headed to the hotel.

I wish that I would have gotten up and asked more people where to go. I could have asked the old couple for help instead of waiting until they spoke to us first. I should not have lost hope and we should have kept walking until we found the place. As soon as we found our parents we were fine. I’m grateful for the old couple for talking to us and asking us why we were sitting there. Next time I want to ask people more questions and it is not embarrassing to ask questions. I learned that day that asking questions is not embarrassing and it is okay to ask questions if you are unsure about something.

“Pizza My Heart, Digital DNA, City of Palo Alto, Art in Public Places, 9.01.05, California, USA 9336” by Wonderlane is licensed under CC BY 2.0.