Personal Narrative: My First Calls

I had been waiting for this moment for six long, stressful weeks. With over seventy hours of training under my belt, I should have felt prepared to take my first call at the crisis hotline. However, all I felt was the tingling of my nerves that were engulfing my body. I was well-educated on any topics that may arise during the calls and knew exactly how to handle all situations. I passed all practice calls on the first time; I was the first person in the whole team to do so. Despite all of these factors working in my favor, my clammy hands, frantic pulse, and hollow lungs convinced me I wasn’t ready, but I would soon learn that if I was optimistic and brave, I could handle anything that came my way.
A part of me wanted to get it over with, and a part of me wanted to avoid it as much as possible. The call center opened at three o’clock in the afternoon. I arrived exactly on time, even though I knew I would be taking the first call to come in. Calls didn’t come in frequently, maybe one or two an hour on average. The time spent between answering phones was spent watching TV, chatting with the other peer counselors, and just relaxing. My mind would not allow me to relax, though. I had almost no confidence in my ability to handle the call, even though I had no reason to believe I would …show more content…
My supervisor had a huge smile stretched across her face, but I could barely even feel my face; there were too many emotions overwhelming my body. The most prominent emotion was satisfaction. I was satisfied with the turnout of the call, and I was satisfied with my ability to overcome fear and perform well despite it. Small tears began to form in the corners of my eyes, probably because I realized the severity of saving a life. All of my stress was alleviated, my confidence was at an all-time high, and my courage was restored. I had no idea that I could handle this sort of high-stakes situation as positively as I