17th May 2018

A week before, I signed up to volunteer for a young Indian woman running for councilperson in Cupertino for the upcoming November elections. I reached Tara's house and she welcomed me with a  big smile, then introduced me to the two other volunteers that day, Sayako and Christine.

Her house was huge, and really, really, well designed interiorly.

She handed us some papers and clipboards and began briefing us on our work. "Okay so picking up where we left off, since now we have Rachael, Christine you could probably handle this alone since you've done this last week right? So Sayako and Rachael could do it together in a team. Now we are going to practice what we say to the people. So...Christine, pretend you are a resident, and Sayako, pretend to ring on her doorbell..."

This is where I realized.

Oh.

Oh.

This is what we are doing.

I couldn't back out now, so taking this as a learning experience, as an opportunity to work on my self improvement and productivity like I had told myself I had to do, I stuck through it. Tara gave us some stickers identifying ourselves and our cause, clipboards with addresses and people's names, ages, phone numbers and political affiliation, some snacks and water, and brochures before sending us on our way. We went door to door promoting Tara's cause by taking turns ringing doorbells and speaking to the residents.

"You're really good at this." Christine said to me. I had no choice but to be fearless. It was a self-defining moment for me. I understood why even when I'm a naturally shy and reserved person, I was able to bypass that trait to do what I had to do. I had to do it if I wanted to grow.

But most importantly, I could do it, because I felt that would make me different.

Sayako was too shy to speak to anyone initially but we encouraged her by providing backup. I could see some confidence blooming from within her after each turn she took. It was great to witness that change with my own eyes, because I know I would've been just like that had I not pick myself up form the very beginning.

We ended our task at 6.30pm, and it was time to go home. The three of us talked about our lives, with Sayako even talking about her boyfriend problems, and we parted ways back at college.