We're throwing it back to 2008. The year Metro Station and 'Shake It' were topping the charts (remember them?!), The Inbetweeners first graced our TVs and America elected an intelligent, compassionate President. Ugh, take me back.
THE SUMMER OF 08
During the summer I was lucky enough to go on holiday to Alicante in Spain. We have family there so I headed out there with my mum and cousins for a week of sun and fun. One evening we headed off to a local bowling alley to meet up with some friends of the people we were staying with.
To my absolute horror, we split into two groups with my mum and cousins on one lane and myself and the people I had just met on the other. To give you some context; I was a 14 year old awkward teenager who at the time hated people watching me do anything sport related.
I had put my bowling shoes on and was giving myself a small, super positive internal pep talk, "don't f*ck up, everyone's watching". I then looked up at the screen above the alley and slowly read down the names: Tom, Peter, Ryan* and Darren... Who on earth is Darren?! Oh wait, that must be me. It was at this moment Tom said "Hey Darren" before handing me a bottle of coke and I found myself in a right pickle.
*Ironically I can't remember their names now so I suppose you can say we're even...
I guess most people would just calmly explain that their name is in fact Daniel, not Darren and that would be that. However, being a shy, socially inept teenager, I froze. Another factor was the bottle of coke. I was very thirsty and wanted nothing more than to taste the refreshing, diabetic inducing flavour of coca cola and for some unknown reason I thought maybe if I told the guy my name wasn't Darren, he wouldn't given me the coke.
So for the rest of the evening I was Darren. It turns out Darren wasn't much better at bowling than Daniel but he did very much enjoy his bottle of coke.
WHAT I LEARNT FROM THIS EXPERIENCE:
Don’t be afraid to correct someone, they will almost definitely thank you. I can only imagine those guy's embarrassment when they later found out that Darren was in fact Daniel.
Maybe not exclusively learnt from this encounter but try not to concern yourself with other people’s judgement of you when it comes to exercise. They are most likely way too busy freaking out about how they look to even notice you.
A bottle of coke on a 30°C evening is worth sacrificing your name for.
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