The Perceptual Process

I personally, use to judge all the time. Everyone I would see or everything a person would do, I would automatically start judging in my head. I came to realize that I'm nobody to be judging so I just go on with my life and let everyone else go on with theirs.

I was a shift leader at the orange peel down on river road and I was in charge of training new employees whenever we got any new ones. So I'm taking orders and then this chick comes up to the register and she says, "I'm here for training." The first thing that popped into my head was that she wasn't going to last a week and that we weren't going to get along. I judged her on her looks, she had piercings everywhere and had a bunch of tattoos. I have no

idea why, but I just didn't like her.

When I first started training her, it was pure do this and do that, put this over there, throw this away. It wasn't till her second week there that we started to ask each other questions. Turns out, Jess is the nicest chick I've met to this day. We had so much in common, we're both from LA, into the same music, same outdoor activities. Got to meet her daughter and her whole family here in St George. She started getting close to everyone else as well. Eventually we were all a big happy employee family.

Ever since that experience, I try to be as open with everyone I meet. Turns out Jess wasn't the person I thought she was and now we're really great friends and I'm happy she's in my life. Never know if anyone else I meet who I don't know might be a close friend later on.

My authentic self / Where I am at this point

I feel that there's a long way ahead of me before I realize who I really am. I might have an idea but that's just a small part of it. There are some things that I could change though.

I know obvious facts about me for example, where I'm from, what I'm going to school for etc. That's just the outside and what I want people to know about me. Making myself vulnerable is no problem. Yes, I know people judge but it doesn't bother me as much because life goes on.

I'm a shy person and it kills me. I bring myself down a lot because of it. I try to always push myself outside of the box. I try talking to people whenever I have the chance but I won't start a conversation because that's just how I am and I need to change that. There's been times where I stay home alone and my roommates go out because I'm shy and scared. I tell myself that I can do it and it's a work in progress. I know I can get there.

Another thing that I could change and I've probably been doing this all my life and just coming to the realization that I do it. When something doesn't go the way I want it, I bring myself down. I torture myself with my thoughts and I know I need to stop and turn bad outcomes into positive things and learn from them.

These are just some things that I am aware of at this point. I'm barely 19 and have a lot of growing and learning to do. There's a lot of things that I have to find out about myself. That's where I am in my life right now. A long journey ahead of me and it's one I'm looking forward too.

Hey everyone! My name is Anthony Gonzalez but everyone calls me Tony for short. I'm 19 & I was born and raised in Los Angeles. Currently a freshman here at Dixie and I'm a psychology major. For fun, I'll either be playing volleyball or I'll be out at Zion's venturing with friends. Main reason why I'm taking this class is because I have trouble expressing myself to others. Looking forward to this class and seeing what I get out of it! See you guys next week!