First time anxiety is a universal experience. You may look forward to that first day eagerly, dreaming dreams of your excellent performance, your cool demeanor as you catch on quickly and breeze through the new demands on your aptitude and courage.
But most of us have to follow Mother Nature’s initiation plan, forcing us to tough it out and gain confidence by conquering our fears while we learn the new system.
We should not give free rein to our imaginations. On my first day at school I became convinced my parents had rented me out to a finger painting company and I might never go home again.
Anxiety during your first driving lesson is unavoidiable and a calm, encouraging instructor can be very helpful. Unfortunately, my Dad overdid it. “Your driver’s test is less than a week away, but don’t worry, I’ll give you the crash course. Whoops, forget I said that!”
My first day in basic training was filled with shouted commands, profane threats of disciplinary action and derogatory comments about “this latest batch of incompetent rookies”. That night I wondered if it was a court martial offense to leave your bunk without permission and my bladder almost burst. Fortunately we were aroused by a foul-mouthed sergeant at 5 a.m.
Then there was my first day as a journalist. Okay, as a part-time reporter. It was during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 that had the whole country on edge, but I wasn’t covering the Pentagon, just a small town board of Education meeting. Nevertheless, my shaking knees were making the press table rattle and I was taking copious, barely legible notes about grammar school business.
The Board President seemed to want to shorten the meeting so everyone could go home and get the latest crisis news on their TV’s. “We’ll deal with the janitorial budget at the next meeting,” he said. And then added, “If there is a next meeting.”
The threat of a nuclear war was in the back of my mind too, but up front I was really worried about having the correct spelling of the name of the newly hired gym teacher.
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Imagine That 