I’ve always been hesitant to put myself in situations that I have found unpleasant or that I deem to be potentially stressful. So this past Monday, when I had no other choice but to use public transportation, aka the bus, you can only imagine how high my anxiety levels must have been.
First of all, I didn't know how to ride a bus. I had no prior knowledge of bus routes or bus fares and, because of this, I woke up a few hours too early and was too anxious to go back to sleep. I immediately consulted Google Maps to check out the best bus routes that would drop me off the closest to my destination, which, by the way, was 0.5 miles. After I finally found how much the bus fare would be, I almost had another anxiety attack. How would I pay for the bus? Would they accept six quarters or a dollar bill and two quarters? Who or what would I give the money to? Honestly, on that day, these were the least of my problems.
I needed to confront my (mostly false) preconceptions about riding the bus. I had heard horror stories about strange old men confronting young girls and one’s belongings mysteriously being stolen when you glanced down for a second. In the past, my own mother had even convinced me not to ride the bus, but for good reason. I live in Richmond, a city in Virginia that is relentlessly shamed for its crime (previously Richmond had been ranked as the 5th worst city crimes). However, after waiting almost an hour for the bus, I realized that many of these stories were untrue.
Upon stepping on the bus, I had trouble putting the money into the machine. In my rush, I repeatedly messed up, but thankfully the bus driver helped me and I could finally take my seat. I use the campus bus quite frequently and there are some major distinctions between the public bus and a college bus. Firstly, the bus was really quiet. Weren't buses supposed to be really loud? Secondly, everyone looked so tired. Extremely tired. Maybe that's why it was so quiet. Despite the campus bus being full of homesick college students only being kept awake by gallons of coffee, the college bus still managed to be more lively than the bus I was riding on. Thirdly, it was so peaceful that I didn’t even need headphones. Everyone was in their own little world, desperate to get wherever it was they were trying to go.
That being said, despite the fact that it took me an hour to get back home, riding the bus wasn't that bad. All of the things I had heard about the public bus being too overcrowded and loud were not true. In a lot of ways, it was better than riding the bus with people my own age. I watched as men would give up their seats for the elderly. Children stared excitedly out of the window, trusting that their parents would get them home safely. I watched as the bus drove away, realizing that my previous misconceptions had caused me more anxiety than they ever really should have. It led me to question how many opportunities we miss out on just because we are simply too afraid to uncover the truth for ourselves and just ride the bus.
