As the title implies, I am blown away by how fast time flies. I do want to write more about customs, but for the moment I want to write about a feeling I was struck by today. 🙂
Being the brave 29-year-old that I am, I went for my flu shot today. Yes, haha, almost 30 and nervous about needles. Go ask my parents, they can vouch for me. As a child I had an absurd fear of them. Oh the horror stories my parents and doctors can tell you. Now that I am an adult, I know this is a silly fear (after all, adults should be masters of all their fears by now, right!?) but I can’t help but still have that slight nervous feeling. Last year I had that feeling, but (wo)manned up and found out…hey! It really isn’t so bad! *happy dance all the way home* This year I went in for it again, knowing that it’s not bad at all, but still had the butterflies in my stomach a little. Well, there were a LOT of people of all ages there today. I was one of the first to arrive and still had to wait an hour and a half almost. While I waited, some of my students came in for the same thing as me! Of course they didn’t want to be there to get the shot. (You would never know this by the way they ran around and played though, lol)
So finally it was my time to go in, and a new feeling came over me. I can’t be a coward in front of these (or any) children, no matter what. Last year I was basically by myself, stewing in my own emotions, and didn’t care that others saw that I was nervous because…I don’t know. Last year of course I was brave and rejoiced that it was literally nothing, but this year I had a new challenge. I had to show these children that shots are nothing. Why did I feel like that? Maybe it was revenge for my own feelings as a child, how much of a coward I was. Maybe I felt if I can show these kids a smile through the entire thing, their experience will be a little better, and that was something that I really wanted for them. The family clinic is not so private, it might also be a Japan thing, but kids are free to roam, and though they’re not supposed to, they do peak their heads into the rooms from time-to-time to see what’s up. And me being their teacher, of course they wanted to see my experience. Suddenly, I wasn’t just “Lindsay” anymore, I was “Lindsay, brave warrior for children everywhere!” This feeling made me feel strong, like a lion or a viking! Like even if something is scary for me, I can get through it because I want to show those kids that yeah, the world has scary things but with some courage look what we can overcome! I smiled through the whole thing (I shut my eyes and tensed up a bit but I don’t think I’m in the minority for that, lol) and told the kids, “See! I’m okay, it’s not bad at all!”
I want to be that kind of role-model for kids because there were so many things I missed out on when I was little because I was scared or nervous. So, thank you kids for helping me conquer life! 😀
From Island to Island 