I’m awkward.

Not in the “wow, look at her she’s so nerdy it’s cool,” way.
I’m awkward in the sense that when I say things, the faces people make are similar to that of if they just saw a dog taking the biggest dump of their life. I make others feel uncomfortable for me. I consider it a blessing.

But I tell you that, to tell you this — when I was 19, I was put into a situation where I could stay where I was living and be miserable, or move.

Doing just as most people would, I packed up what little I had and moved out. Unlike most people however, I decided to move seven hours away from where I was.

I separated myself from all my friends, family — nearly everything I had come to know. I moved to an entirely different state, quit my job that I had been manager of, applied to a new school and changed my college major all in just a week.

I suppose I hit my mid-life crisis early on.

The worst thing about it, though, was the idea of trying to make new friends. It was not like I was opposed it, but I was 19 turning 20, and slowly I realized I could not even remember how to make friends.

One would think with all the social media outlets making friends would be easier these days, but I have seen “The Craiglist Killer” — I know how it ends and I did not want to end up that way.

So what’s a girl to do?

Once I was hired at my first job at Target, I tried really hard to come out of my shell and find people that I could “hang with” as the kids say these days.

Unfortunately, the only people who worked in my department were women in their mid-to-late 70s. I will never forget their names, Barb and Linda.

Barb liked to talk to me about how great it is to have grandchildren.

Linda liked to talk to me about her gambling problem — both of these two things I hope to not be familiar with until much later in my life.

Eventually I met someone my age and the first thing he asked me was what my name was. For any other individual, this would have been an easy question to answer, but I had a lot riding on this.

It had to have been at least five minutes before I answered him. I was playing out what I was going to say in my head over and over again. If I messed this up, Netflix could have been my only friend for always and eternity.

I got so nervous that I honestly dropped everything I had in my hands, ruining an entire display I had just finished setting up.

As the display was falling down I screamed in a loud voice that I have never heard before come out of me, “Oh hi, I’m Gail.”

I turned the brightest shade of red that you can imagine. I almost felt like crying, until he started laughing.

Well, at least I think he was laughing, my glasses also fell off my face in the process, and just like Velma from “Scooby-Doo,” I cannot see a thing without my glasses.

Luckily, my co-worker thought this was hilarious and told me I was really funny, and asked me to hang out.

I could not believe it. I stood there shocked, shaking and afraid of being fired. Slowly but surely, I met other friends and the rest is history.

I know it sounds corny, but this whole scary experience really opened my eyes to something awesome.

I learned that regardless of how intimidating a situation might be, it can be overcome, regardless of the amount of social awkwardness I possess.

By GAIL FAUSTYN

News Editor

gfaustyn@ius.edu