Breaking the Social Norm
Breaking the Social Norm My social norm was walking on campus backwards for an entire day. This was a major challenge to me because when people are not doing the expected in a social environment, I have many opinions on those particular people. So this was definitely a new experience for me. When I first knew this was my idea, I was very nervous and anxious. I was so worried about what other students on campus would think about me. I had various questions going on in my mind. What were others going to say about me? Would the students make fun of me? How would I react if they were to respond to my actions? After the first initial thoughts, I became excited. I wondered how many people would be humored by me walking backwards to class. I was scared that my observations would change my perspective on a lot of ideas. I was nervous because I felt like I was not ready to change my perspective on everything after only one day. This was a huge step for me. I knew that I could not be laughing because the experiment would then be pointless. So I gathered myself together the night before and hoped this major challenge would go smoothly. I woke up like I do every morning knowing that I had to walk on campus backwards for an entire day. I began brushing teeth and washing my face. As I was washing my face, I accidentally put soap in my eyes because I was very nervous about the day. Afterwards, I got dressed and I started by walking backwards out of my room. Unfortunately, the elevator was broken that day and I had to walk backwards down two flights of steps. As you can imagine, this did not have a great outcome. I missed a step and fell down five steps. I was happy I was not hurt and many people helped me up. Many of the people laughed at me as they were helping me get on my feet. Also, they asked questions such as “Why are you walking backwards?”, “Are you okay?” Did you know walk backwards on steps you will end up falling?” ,and “Are you slow?” These