Day 11: Change, Change, Change by Cha Thompson

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July 10th, 2019

Change, Change, Change
by Cha Thompson

The first activity in our evening activity was about change. We had to stare into a partner’s eyes for exactly one minute. Everyone paired up and my partner was Hannah. As we were staring into each other’s eyes, I felt calm and relaxed. During that one minute, we had a conversation about the color of their eyes and hair. I personally think that having a conversation helps both people feel less uncomfortable because you can connect with them verbally and visually.

Once the minute was over, we were told to change five things about ourselves. At first I got stressed out deciding on what I should change. For example, I started by rolling up one sleeve and taking a shoe off. I felt that once we turned back around, it was easy to see what was changed because we had just spent a minute staring at them and I personally felt more connected to my partner.
Cha and her partner Hannah working to find
ways to change their appearance.  

We had to turn around and change five more things once our partner found everything that we had changed the first time. This time it was easier to change things about ourselves because I knew what the expectations were and I changed some of the things about myself that my partner had changed about themselves in the previous round. We turned back around and discovered that this round was harder because the changes were smaller and supposed to be subtle.

Once we found everything again, went back into the room and sat down. Susan explained the activity and what it meant. Staring into someone’s eyes for a full minute made people uncomfortable and self-conscious. I, however, felt connected and comfortable. The next two activities were supposed to make you stressed out. Also, no one asked to switch items with someone else representing that when you are faced with change, you do not reach out and ask for help. I found this one very interesting because, based on the situation, I don’t reach out and try to handle things by myself. And finally, coming back into the room, everyone changed things back to the way they were. This showed that once the pressure of change is taken off of people, they resort back to their old ways. I didn’t put a shoe back on because I was rushed but I also connected this to water usage during and after a drought.

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