A day off

Last year on MLK Day I wrote about making your day off a day on in service. But this year I'm not practicing what I preached--I'm taking the day off.

As you might have noticed by the lack of blog posts, I haven't been around here much this past week or so. That's because I've been getting settled at my internship, adjusting to my classes, and juggling both of my jobs. It's been a lot to balance, but I'm hanging on!

At my internship last week, I distributed 2000 flyers for a free tax service, attended a staff meeting, and read through Santa Maria's board manual and employee handbooks. I also finished meeting with 9 of 11 program managers (just two more to go!) to get a better idea of the range of services Santa Maria provides to the community. My next step is to draft my learning contract with UC that will lay out everything I will work on over the next two quarters. It's quite a task--I've got to narrow down all of the program and project opportunities to something that is manageable between now and June. Because I can split my time between direct practice and administration this time, I've got a lot to choose from, which is exciting!

I've now had all of my classes, and I'm getting into the groove of the new quarter. Two of my classes are about working with individuals and families, and I'm already realizing how introspective I'm becoming with each class. In fact, I have two assignments in which I am to specifically reflect on my own family's experience. One is a Genogram, which is like a very detailed family tree. Not only does it show how people are related and the dates of their births, deaths, and marriages, but it also shows the relationships between each relative. Once that is finished, I will use that information to write a detailed paper about my family. I'm realizing that the more insight I have into my own family, the better prepared I will be to help others gain insight into their families, too.

And then there's my jobs. I'm now working regular hours at both Rape Crisis and House of Peace. It's great to have steady income, but the trade off is my down time. I now have one day off a week, if you count doing homework and housework as a a day off! So when you get a holiday like MLK Day, you really cherish it, especially when your life is already all about service.

So today I'm giving back to myself. I'm going to hang out with a friend I don't get to see nearly enough and then enjoy a lovely dinner with my husband. I'm learning that it isn't a bad thing to take time for myself, and I shouldn't feel guilty for taking a day off. Without a day off, it's hard to have good days on!