The dread, the nerves, the pressure of fitting in—I remember my first Christmas party as a wide-eyed 20-year-old all too well.
I was hired in December of that year, and after a few weeks, I was told new hires in the company had to come up with a performance for the party. As a shy, reserved person, I began planning something I was comfortable doing—maybe grab my sister's ukulele and sing something even though I'm not the best singer. But suddenly, all the other newbies in the company I was working for at the time gathered and said we would just be doing one performance to save time.
The naive, young me shook in my boots because I was most self-conscious about dancing, but it felt like I didn't have a choice. In my mind, I kept telling myself to not be a buzzkill. I didn't want to put the other new hires in a difficult position or disappoint them by not choosing to cooperate. Others kept sharing how this was tradition, and that even my former boss sang and went through the ritual when she was a newbie.
Sure, I could choose to not go to the Christmas party, but this was my first job and I didn't want to be thought of as someone who's"mahirap pakisamahan." So, I grit my teeth and stayed after work hours to practice dancing the most overdone Christmas song,
philstarlife True, lalo na sa mga may stage fright, social anxiety at super shy/introvert...in short wag ipilit o gawing requirement/initiation 🤦🏽♀️