On a trust walk with 20 strangers

All of us are living in this world with some personal baggage. Some of us have broken hearts and some others have trust issues. Some of us don’t gel with people we call our friends and the others can’t count on anyone. Alone or with people around, all of us have our own battles to fight.

I’m no different. Some experiences of my life forced me to shut out. I realized this in conversation with my cousin sister. We were talking about certain things over dinner, and as I tried to give advice being the elder sister, I realized I was being a hypocrite.

Did I actually implement in my own life what I was asking her to do? No. I was telling her the importance of conveying what you felt, but was I doing that myself? Maybe not. I was just being the Lady Bond of my life and thinking I’ll handle it all. And clearly, I was losing control of things.

I went to Rajasthan on a project and one of our activities involved us going on a trust walk. I had to walk with my eyes closed, holding the shoulders of the person ahead of me. So I did as I was told not knowing how reflective it will be. As I began walking, I heard the sound of a bus coming towards us. How am I supposed to save myself? What if it bangs right into me? What if I lose my grip on his shoulders? What if I trip?

Whatever be the scenario, I had nowhere to go. I had to trust the person ahead of me and the facilitators for my safety. So I tried. I climbed a slope with my eyes closed. I walked on bumpy roads. I tried to match up to the pace of the person ahead of me. Blocking all kinds of negative thoughts, I focused on my footsteps.

I survived that passing bus and overcame every other fear.

When I was asked to stop and open my eyes, I had the most beautiful sight in front of me.

It was an exquisite feeling of pride and liberation. I trusted strangers practically with my life, even though the walk may come across as too simple. So why can’t we sometimes trust the ones closest to us? Maybe because we draw conclusions from our past experiences and shut ourselves out. At least I did that. But this small experience has made me ready to try to put down my guard and release the shackles of doubt and fear.

Genuine bonds are made when we learn to give people a chance. And I’m ready to make even sweeter ones!