Helping Skill #4: Being a Good Observer 

    Observing is my favorite thing to do. I actually use it in my day to day activities. It’s not like I choose it to do it, it is just something I have always done. In this picture, Nathaniel chose to do a food challenge: you had to eat everything on the plate in 8 minutes. While he was eating, I noticed a couple of things he was eager to win, and he was getting tired of rushing to eat, he wanted a break and kept going anyway. What came next was crazy and ironic (at least to me). All of us asked him how he felt to see if he was sad or not. Unfortunately he did not make the 8 minutes and he only had like a good 4 more bites left. At first he said he was fine that it didn’t bother him that he didn’t win, but that he said the guy timing him totally rigged it. I was thinking to myself wow! he is really upset because not only his face expressions weren’t matching up with what he was saying, his own words were contradicting to how he was feeling. Here comes the ironic part: he finally admitted after a few minutes that he was sad that he didn’t win because if he did win if I remember correctly he wouldn’t have to pay for the meal he ate, gotten a free t-shirt, and a margarita. I am not sure about the margarita, but the rest I am sure of.  What still makes me wonder is why he chose to say he was sad, but I am glad that he shared with us that he was sad. We even cheered him on during and after the challenge! It was very exciting!