15 miles from Poughkeepsie, NY this past week and on my way to speak at Vassar College, the tire on my rental car blows out! I was in a remote area on a Restricted Roadway (tow trucks cannot service the area without a State Police request first). I like to give myself an extra hour leeway for driving time to be safe and I did in this case. However, the Emergency Service said they may need that entire time to get to me. What do I do? First, I called the school to give them the entire situation – to insure no one was surprised or taken off guard.
Next, I went into the trunk and started working on changing the tire myself. Everything was going well. I had the car jacked up and then suddenly realized the hubcap was not coming off. A few minutes later, a state highway vehicle pulls up and helps me get the tire changed. What could have easily have been 75-90 minutes turned into only 20 minutes and everything went smoothly. Why? The state emergency employee had a special tool for getting the hubcap off. I arrived at Vassar with PLENTY of time to spare (no pun intended) before conducting my sound check.
When working on talking with teens and students on sexual decision-making, do you leave leeway for what could go wrong in your conversation? What could blow up your conversation? Someone’s temper, attitude, assumptions, judgement? How do you prepare for those possibilities? Do you practice the exact scenario? I’ve changed tires before. However, I had never run into a HubCap problem before (the Emergency Service had). Even though I had a little experience, I needed more tools to solve my problem. What tools could help you in creating a positive impact with teens and young adults decisions regarding sexual decision-making, supporting survivors, and bystander intervention?
Share below by LEAVING A COMMENT about what you do and/or have done to best prepare for all the “What If” scenarios when talking to teens and young adults.