Yesterday I got to work at 7:30, anxious to dig in to the pile of stuff waiting for me. Having email delivered to my mobile phone did help a bit, as I took care of some matters while gone.
So much work to do. People remark on my tan and ask if I had a great vacation. I've been telling them about the volunteer work. Not bragging, but trying to implant seeds in other people's brains. Regular folks like me can help. They can help as well.
Here's something I posted on my writers' bb after a friend called me a "saint":
Omigod, charlie, don't you ever call me a saint again, PLEASE! I'm so very flawed that I think I may do volunteer work just to make up for my many failures. Sad but true.
And to charlie and nancie, thanks so much for the welcome back. I'm finally feeling like I fit in my skin again. It was so different there--when you are volunteering you really don't have a care in the world (about yourself). I didn't care if I ate or when/where I slept. My bills didn't bother me. Didn't care if Survivor was on or not. (Of course I had my dvr record all my favorite shows while I was gone...) Almost had a wild hair to join the Peace Corps immediately after talking to Pam (see blog). But when I heard you're there for two years without a trip home in between I knew I couldn't leave my grandkids for that long. So I thought--why wait until I retire, I could join Doctors Without Borders right now. Could come home every six months, visit the family and then go back.
Of course that was just a pipe dream. I don't think I have the courage to do that while I still can work here. But who knows. I'm going to wait until after the "glow" of the experience wears off and then see what I want to do when I grow up. If I grow up.
Got a postcard yesterday from the Red Cross inviting me to a celebration for all volunteers. It's going to be December 16 at the Boerner Botanical Gardens. I can't wait.
They closed the postcard with a quote from founder Clara Barton, "You must never so much as think whether you like it or not, whether it is bearable or not; you must never think of anything except need, and how to meet it."
Now SHE was a saint.
2 comments:
Jer,
Your comments about the volunteer experience were great. I felt less stress 'there' than when I am at home. I knew about the day's big picture and where I'd sleep. It was a time to focus only on the basics of life. The daily work and bills distactions were gone!
Funny thing, some people had trouble with the stress. One guy on my team started smoking because of his stress. Other guys needed to hit Burbon Street EVERY night for stress relief.
Stress? What stress? I've been back for almost four weeks now. The daily stress routine has returned. But, it is not quite such a big deal after deployment.
Thanks for going!
Thank you for going too, Ken. I'm pretty settled back into my job too. And am getting stressed all over again. To me, working in situations that may be stressful to others, seems to put me in a calm place. But the regular day to day with my desk piling higher and higher with papers can be brutal. Kind of odd. But that's the way it is...
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