ESL Blogs

Sometimes fear appears in moments when the unexpected happens. Yeah, we would say that now we are adults and therefore have a lot of experience and there's nothing to fear and so on...but the truth is that most of us still have fear hidden in some nooks inside ourselves.

That night, I was walking alone on the sidewalk of a big avenue named Tlalpan (this avenue belongs to one of the main boroughs of Mexico city called "Delegaciones", it is important because of its conservation as a forest and also other ecologically sensitive areas. The name Tlalpan comes from the Nahuatl language, and it's formed by two words-terms that means Earth (Tlal) and Upon/Over (Pan).

My tiny apartment was on the other side of the big avenue and the only way to get there was by crossing under the roadway through a long tunnel constructed under the avenue. Along that tunnel, there were some little stores; from convenient stores to clothes stores and a barber shop.

A few meters before reaching the tunnel, there was a blackout. The time was ten after nine and everything was in darkness. Blackouts in Mexico are common and some of them have last for hours. Then, I had to make a choice, stay there and wait for the power to come back on, or go through the dark tunnel and get home in a few minutes. I really wanted to get home early, because I was tired and at that moment it was starting to drizzle. So I made up my mind. When I got to the bottom of the stairs, I was following the weak light from the screen of my old cell phone (one of those old Nokia cellphones from which I could only send and receive local messages and phone calls). I hesitated for quite a while because it was completely dark.

All stores were closed and nobody was there, not even a single person trying to do the same as me; crossing through that tunnel to get to the other side."Well, it's just a tunnel"- I said to myself. Then I started to walk trying to ignore those negative thoughts about what could happen in a dark tunnel at night. I was full of fear, but I just focused my attention on the poor light of my cell phone while I was walking at a slow pace. "Try to not look to either side, but just follow the light and watch your steps."- I said to myself. When I reached the end of the tunnel I had an unforgettable feeling of success, I had beaten my fears!

That experience helped me to mature a lot, and grow up in my life. It taught me about trusting myself and being more confident, but the most important lesson was to have faith in God.

Student.