No shame in my game (anymore). Shouldn’t be any in yours either.
I don’t like being uncomfortable or being put into awkward situations. So much so, that it can be a detriment to how I live my life. Sometimes, I’m so worried about what others think that I just don’t even try things because if I don’t try then I can’t fail. However, only through failure can you actually grow. Now, you can’t really fail the act of going to the movies unless you scream “Fire!” in a crowded theater when there isn’t a fire which leads to you being arrested.
During my freshman year in college, I frequently thought about going to see movies alone but I would always ask my friends if they were interested in certain movies, but most of the time, the answer was no so I would wait until I met up with my family one weekend. The first few films I saw in college were Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, Ant-Man, Trainwreck, Black Mass, The Intern, and The Martian. I saw all these films with either friends or family. Then in October, I saw trailers for Sicario. My friends were either busy or they weren’t really interested. I wasn’t visiting family until about two weeks after the movie opened. I didn’t want to wait so I decided to see it by myself on an early Friday afternoon so the theaters would practically be empty anyway.
My heart was beating pretty fast on the way to the movie theater because I just had this idea that someone would ask, “You’re seeing this by yourself?” or overhear someone saying “Is he by himself?”. Yep, that’s what was going through my head as an insecure nineteen-year-old. I just kept telling myself to just get in the theater, sit down, and just listen to podcasts or music on my phone until the previews started.
During my freshman year in college, I frequently thought about going to see movies alone but I would always ask my friends if they were interested in certain movies, but most of the time, the answer was no so I would wait until I met up with my family one weekend. The first few films I saw in college were Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, Ant-Man, Trainwreck, Black Mass, The Intern, and The Martian. I saw all these films with either friends or family. Then in October, I saw trailers for Sicario. My friends were either busy or they weren’t really interested. I wasn’t visiting family until about two weeks after the movie opened. I didn’t want to wait so I decided to see it by myself on an early Friday afternoon so the theaters would practically be empty anyway.
My heart was beating pretty fast on the way to the movie theater because I just had this idea that someone would ask, “You’re seeing this by yourself?” or overhear someone saying “Is he by himself?”. Yep, that’s what was going through my head as an insecure nineteen-year-old. I just kept telling myself to just get in the theater, sit down, and just listen to podcasts or music on my phone until the previews started.
As you can guess, nothing out of the ordinary happened. Everything was very uneventful as I paid for my ticket and went to the the theater and waited until the movie started. Sicario was excellent. Once I was able to get out of my own way, everything was perfectly fine and I saw a lot more movies by myself throughout my years in college including Spotlight, Brooklyn, The Big Short, The Shape of Water, La La Land, Manchester by the Sea, Blade Runner 2049, Battle of the Sexes, and much more.
If you’re nervous about even the most trivial things, it’s perfectly normal and nothing to be ashamed about because I was (and still am in some cases) in the exact same place. There are just things that I have anxiety about, but I enjoy the small victories because they show a courage that I did not have before. So, don’t be afraid to fail because that’s the only way you grow and become stronger as a person. You could be afraid to go to the movies by yourself like I was, but then you realize it’s not a big deal and you move on to the next challenge.
If you’re nervous about even the most trivial things, it’s perfectly normal and nothing to be ashamed about because I was (and still am in some cases) in the exact same place. There are just things that I have anxiety about, but I enjoy the small victories because they show a courage that I did not have before. So, don’t be afraid to fail because that’s the only way you grow and become stronger as a person. You could be afraid to go to the movies by yourself like I was, but then you realize it’s not a big deal and you move on to the next challenge.