Confusing questions
Many times in life we fall into a situation where we must ask ourselves, or someone else, a question. After we form the question, our heart begins to palpitate and our mind appears to be having a race against Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt. While this is happening, we might pose another question to ourselves,“Should I really ask this question?” We spend minutes, sometimes hours, wrestling with trying to answer this question, but why?
More times than not, the answer to our question is simply yes or no; however, our mind complicates this one-minute question into something larger than life. It’s natural. It’s perfectly fine for our mind to complicate the process – it’s human nature. Here are two scenarios – take a moment to see how you would confront them.
Scenario one: You have a major exam coming up and you confront the question, “How do I ___.” You Google the question but, shockingly, it does not give you a clear answer. You follow up the question with, “Should I ask the professor?”
Scenario two (a more complex one): You realize that your friend is turning into your crush; you then confront the question, “Could I be infatuated with my friend?” Each time you hang out with your friend you can’t seem to dodge cupid’s arrow. You confront the next question, “Should I tell my friend?”
Now the simple answers to the questions are yes or no. But, be honest, your mind did not simply come to the answer yes or no.
To those of you said “yes” to both questions rather quickly, good job – want a cookie? To those of you who said “no” to either question, why?
How did you arrive at the answer? Was it rationally? Sometimes when we answer our question with a no, it’s because we are afraid of the answer. We’re afraid to ask the professor or that a crush will reject us. Although it is OK to have a fear of rejection sometimes, never let that fear swallow you up by not allowing you to ask a question. Take a step out of your comfort zone, rationally decide whether to ask the question and see where that path takes you.
Christian Gray is a senior majoring in marketing with a focus in promotion and communications and a minor in economics. He is president of the Student Activities Board. When he’s not planning events or doing schoolwork, you’ll catch him watching something sports related (#KOBE) or vibing out to music. His career goal growing up was to be Batman. He won’t tell you if he was successful on that mission, but let’s be real – have you ever seen him and Batman in the same place before?
