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Farhnaz Fazli (she/her/hers), Low Entropy Volunteer Writer

Personal growth occurs in two steps. The first step is taking a leap of faith. In other words, it involves making the decision to face your fears head-on. The second step is arguably the toughest: commitment to your decision. Not too long ago, I learned this lesson when I made the brave decision to pursue something out of my comfort zone. 

I spent a long time in a rut and had no sense of direction when it came to my career. I remembered attending multiple career workshops in hopes of gaining some clarity. At these workshops, I learned that communication skills were one of the top abilities for workplace and career success. I came to realize that the undergraduate program that I was enrolled in (Biology) was making me complicit to my personal and career growth. Arguably, one of the reasons I enrolled in a STEM program was because they were often stereotypically portrayed as a good fit for people on the more introverted, shy or reserved side, like myself.

However, I knew that if I wanted to thrive in my career overall, I had to get out of my comfort zone and improve on my communication skills. It was obvious to me that staying in the same program was not going to help me improve on these skills. After all, there were little to no opportunities to consistently practice my communication skills seriously enough to make a huge difference in my habits. I knew that I needed to do something dramatic that would force me to wholeheartedly challenge my shyness. After doing some research, I came up with a list of career paths that required communications skills as a top skillset. Journalism caught my attention immediately. I grew up watching the news a lot and I felt it would be the most extreme way to challenge my quiet demeanor. I immediately submitted my application and a few months later I heard back that I was officially accepted into a journalism college program.

Within the first few weeks of the program, we were already recording ourselves speaking on camera and interviewing strangers. It was very awkward and nerve-wracking for me. It looked quite effortless for those in my class who were naturally social butterflies and outgoing. I remember letting so many people walk me by before gaining the courage to approach them for a street interview. I had to constantly remind myself before each project that there was no backing out of this, no matter how terribly I felt that I was doing compared to my peers. I was committed to achieving my goal of nailing every major communication skill that journalism challenges: oral, active listening and written. That was my sole mission. 

It took roughly two semesters of the program before I improved on my shyness. By then I had grown a collection of embarrassing recordings of myself speaking on camera and interviewing strangers. I was still nervous, but I slowly grew to be confident and own up to the communication skills I specifically needed to improve on. With hard work and dedication, I found myself accepted into three very competitive internship placements by my final year. I remained focused on my goal of facing my fears and was anxiously ready to apply these newfound communication skills in the real world. 

I ended up making some mistakes at my job that revived some of my fears around communicating with others. Some of these mistakes made me feel so insecure that I wanted to quit entirely. Luckily, I fought that voice in my head and kept going. I knew that I had come too far to back out now. I was only getting started.

After completing all of my work placements, I came out an entirely different person. I was so confident in my communication skills that I became nearly unrecognizable to those who knew me well. I was so proud of myself for staying committed to my goals, even when it got really difficult and I wanted to give up. 

You see, it’s quite simple taking that first leap into doing something scary. You can just close your eyes, count down and jump right into the deep end. But do you have what it takes to stay committed to this leap? Staying within the challenge to tell the tale? That’s what matters most.  My decision to enrol into journalism school despite dealing with shyness was my leap straight into the deep end. I had plenty of awkward moments and some failures, and I frequently questioned what I was even doing in certain rooms. I often wanted to retreat back to my comfort zone and quit. But I refused to. I was committed to my decision and I was going to do whatever it took to come out alive to tell the tale. And alive I came out: alive and so much more. I grew extremely confident in myself and less shy than I ever thought I was capable of being. Reflecting on this journey, I’ve learned that our fears are sort of like muscles. They require our effort and commitment to truly see change.

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