My new year’s resolution should probably be to write more. It’s been almost four months since I’ve completed a blog post – basically since I started teaching again and settled into my new community. I blame this on both being incredibly busy with work and having amazing housemates to spend time with. This has been my struggle since arriving at CAP almost a year and a half ago: balancing all the different aspects of volunteer life.
The other night, our community’s devotion was about love languages – the different ways that people express love and receive love from others. Every single person in my community rated quality time as their dominant love language. This is perfectly reflected in how we typically spend our time: together. This means lots of fun, laughs, and adventures, but not a lot of time to do things like write.
As I look back on 2012, I’m proud of everything I’ve accomplished and grateful for all the relationships I’ve formed. In just the last four months I’ve met and taught hundreds of children, helped write a brand new curriculum, attended two weddings of former housemates, went on vacation with my family, and visited old friends around the country. I’ve gotten to know my new housemates while staying in touch with the old ones and started coaching the Academic Team at one of the county’s elementary schools. Life has been insanely busy, but I like it like that.
Around New Year's last year, one of my housemates challenged us to pick a word for the year, rather than make a resolution. The idea is that when you pick one specific word to focus on, you’re going to make more progress in more areas of your life than if you make a resolution that you’re likely to break within the first month. My word for 2012 was determination, and I think I did a good job of living out a year of being determined. I ran a half marathon, studied for the GRE, applied for grad school, and transitioned into a new community. I made a lot of decisions and stuck with them, which is something I’ve always had trouble with.
To follow up the year of decision-making and determining what I want for the future, my word for 2013 is patience. Patience in waiting to hear from grad school and making decisions about the future. Patience in the uncertainty of leaving CAP and for taking the time to do the little things that are important to me, like writing. So as I embark on my year of patience, I ask for your patience as I do my best to keep up with my blog.
“The keys to patience are acceptance and faith. Accept things as they are, and look realistically at the world around you. Have faith in yourself and in the direction you have chosen.” – Ralph Marston
Erin C. is a second-year long-term CAP Volunteer serving in Educational and Recreational Programming at CAP's Camp AJ. She is a member of the Jackson Volunteer Community.
