1)In life we have lots of choices. Some are big and some are small. You can analyze your choices all you want, but ultimately sometimes in life you just have to pick one. That was what happened with choosing my internship. I was offered two of them; one at a hospital and one with youth services at Catholic Charities. I made pros and cons list, consulted my advisory panels (aka the same people probably reading this), and thought about which one to choose over and over. The day I sat down to write my professor an email telling her which one I had decided to go with, I really had no idea which one I was going to write. Ultimately, I just had to choose one. I picked Catholic Charities because I just felt like I clicked better with that supervisor. Sometimes in life you just have to pick one. It’s not always that one is right and one is wrong, sometimes you just have to make a decision and go with it!
2) I like having my own office! My office at C.C. isn’t huge, nothing fancy, but it’s MINE! I liked knowing that if I wanted to pick my nose, I didn’t have to look over my shoulder. Having my own office felt like my own little domain. And to be quite honest I felt a little sophisticated saying things like, “could you step into my office for a moment.” Even though in all reality I really think those words only came out of my mouth about three times throughout the entire internship…
3) The cycle of poverty is so real, you can almost physically see it! If I had to pick one single thing that I became frustrated with throughout this internship it would be this cycle. You really have to train yourself to think differently when you’re working with people who are in a different socio economical status than yourself. I think the differences between social class is WAY underplayed. It’s such a taboo subject, that it just gets ignored. If you keep ignoring a problem though, it doesn’t go away, it just keeps perpetuating itself.
4) I don’t like getting up at 7:30 A.M. I have done it five days a week for the past four months, and I don’t like it one bit more now than when I had to do it on my first day. Mornings are meant for sleeping, nothing else!
5) There are people out there who do horrible shit to kids. My apologies for the profanity, but seriously there is no other way to describe some of the things the kids I have worked with have gone through. I think kids are amazingly resilient creatures! These kids overcome their abuse and are happy, successful, productive human beings. But I am almost certain you never fully get over being abused. It really makes me sick to my stomach and I kind of want to cry when I think about it.
6) Age and wisdom do not always go hand and hand. I’ve had to do lots of reality checks throughout my internship. Yes, this 45-year-old mother really is seeking me out as a professional to offer her parenting advice. Yes, this parent really did just say they were proud of their seven-year-old son for breaking another kids arm cause “he’s learning real young ya gotta stick up for yourself.” IDIOTS!
7) I like dressing up for work everyday. It’s fun! And believe it or not I actually feel better about myself when I’m wearing my stilettos, black dress pants, and Express sweater, than when I’m wearing my infamous black sweatpants, which contrary to popular belief fit me just fine!
8) Boredom is only a state of mind. Anyone who grew up with Gaily knows one of her favorite phrases is, “If you’re bored, I can find you something to do.” I never wanted mom to find me something to do, so I just made it a point to never be bored. This skill has served me well in life. I can really only think of about two days I was bored at work, and honestly there was stuff I could have done, I was just being lazy!
9) It’s a good thing to get a long well with your boss! I’ve honestly had a blast working with Carrie, my supervisor, this semester. She’s gone out of her way to be helpful and make me feel welcomed at the agency. I would go as far as saying we’re best friends. Ok, maybe not that far, but she has been really awesome!
10) Sooooo about being a social worker……. I’ve never been dead set on my profession. I am a firm believer that life is way more about the journey than the destination! I think I could be a good social worker. I also think I could be a good airline stewardess, or a cruise line director, or a business owner, or a Peace Corp Volunteer, or maybe even a vacation planner at Walt Disney World. I’m not real sure what my career will be or, hell if I’ll ever even have one. I do know that the world is big, HUGE and I wanna go play in it!
Ok, shall we talk about how proud I am of you? Or should we talk about loving the unloveable? How about how our government perpetuates abuse and the cyle of poverty? Gosh, Kels, lets just get together and talk about how love is the only way to overcome the shit in the world. Way to go Kelsey!!!! Good job!
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