It was a day like any other on college campus. The weather was cool and the air crisp. The campus was surprisingly devoid of people. It was a cool September evening and you have missed the bus home.
Waiting for your parents to arrive and pick you up you decide to walk around to kill time. The car park is almost empty as you pass by. You count three cars in total. It seems even the tutors have gotten home before you have.
After a short walk around the campus lake you decided to head into the main reception of the college to wait for your ride home. As you pass through the large automatic doors you give off a final shiver. It's cold outside so you might as well wait for your ride home here. You throw your rucksack to the floor and sit down on the cold, hard ground. Almost 10 minutes pass and you feel incredibly bored.
You then hear someone call your name. It was a familiar voice, a woman. It was Diane the college welfare officer. You smile to her as she walks towards you. She is wearing denim jeans alongside her signature black welfare officer jacket. The jacket is waterproof and the words: "Diane Welfare Officer" are printed onto the back of it. All the welfare officers have the same jacket and it's a uniform of sorts for all of them that work at the college.
Diane is a tall woman, with long blonde hair and a confident walk. She asks you why you're still here and you explain you'd missed the bus. "Would you like to come to my office and wait there?" She asks. "It would be a far better place to sit than on the floor." Without a seconds hesitation you scramble to your feet and you follow her to her office. As you both get to the door she unlocks it and lets you go inside. The office is not an unfamiliar place for you. You have struggled with a lack of confidence your entire life and Diane has been helping you with confidence building for almost 4 years now.
It feels safe here and you feel a certain level of trust was built in this room also. This is the place you've opened up to her countless times in the past. A place of healing and empathy. As you sit down in the chair you turn to look out of the window. It's dark outside and you scan the car park briefly, but your parents haven't arrived to pick you up yet.
Diane sits down in her leather wheelie chair. Spinning it around to face your direction. Her body language screams confidence and authority. You look towards her for a second before breaking eye contact. You've always struggled with eye contact. Especially with people in positions of authority.
"I had just locked up the office door to go home, but now that I've found you we might as well talk for a bit." She explains. "I feel as though you've been making good progress, however a bit of eye contact would go a long way." You agree with her and tell her you find it difficult. You explain that you feel huge discomfort holding eye contact for some reason, but you wish it wasn't the case.
"What is it about eye contact that you find difficult?" Diane asks as you look towards the floor at her feet. "I don't know. It's just the whole being looked at. I can talk to you just fine if I cant see you, but the moment I look you in the eyes I feel a almost instinctual impulse to look away." You explain. Diane pauses for a second. "You know I'm there though. You just cant see me looking at you... I think I might be able to try something."
After a minute pause Diane gets up out of her chair. She then walks over to her draws and begins digging inside to find something. Yet again you can see the back of her waterproof jacket. It rustles as she searches. She then turns around holding a pair of sunglasses. "Let's experiment with this" She says which causes you to look up from the floor.
You can see Diane the welfare officer standing in front of you. She is wearing the sunglasses and you look deeply into her sunglasses. You do not feel an uneasy discomfort or an impulse to look away. "It's something about eye contact" She states in a interested tone. "I think you need to have some positive experiences in order to associate eye contact with something good."