The Dark Room

So today I spent some time in the dark room in our lab. I often go in there to develop my protein blots. It’s a fairly small room and usually I have it all to myself. However, if there does happen to be someone else in there, like there was today, it can be kind of awkward standing in the dark waiting for your film to be exposed if you don’t really know the person who is standing next to you doing exactly the same thing….waiting. The awkward silence is periodically broken by requests to turn on the lights quickly, or to open the door, making the encounter all the more uncomfortable. After experiencing this twice today I realized how ridiculous it is. Why shouldn’t I use the opportunity to get to know some other people in my department? It is actually kind of sad that I allow my suppressed shyness to come out at certain moments like this. (I was actually quite shy in high school and even into my first year or so of college.) I think I’m a pretty outgoing person now, but moments like this make me realize that I still need to work on focusing on other people instead of myself. By allowing the moment to be awkward I missed a possible opportunity to make someone have a better day, or at least avoid an unpleasant few minutes in the dark room. I’ll have to do better next time.