Sitting vs Leaping

Hey everyone. I'm not going to talk about this for long, but today's blog thoughts start with Boot Camp. Now, I've written about Boot Camp a few different weeks and rest assured, it still pushes me physically where I definitely feel it the next day. It's been a struggle some weeks, but one thing that has helped is having some of my colleagues in the program as well. One of them has been doing Boot Camp both Mondays & Wednesdays and more power to her. Anyway, all three of us signed up for the program together and had been going each Monday as a housing trio.

Well today, both of my colleagues were gone for various reasons. One had some family commitments I think and the other became double-booked with sitting on a panel about working in student affairs. When I started doing the warm-up laps, I was worried that I was going to feel on my own and not supported. Then the director of the ESL program on campus started walking alongside me. Sure, I don't know her as well as my fellow hall directors, but we caught up on work and life in general. During the actual 'meat' of today's boot camp, I was paired with another person from my division, whom I know even less, but it still worked all the same.

When I was transitioning between some of the exercises, I thought about these little moments and the values of staying in your comfort zone and reaching beyond. Even though the other hall directors who are in boot camp have only worked at the college since July, I've gotten to know them decently well. So, like I said before, having them alongside me in boot camp was quite helpful. On the other hand, I've gotten to know others on campus outside of the department and even if I don't know people that well, I can still socialize and help the boot camp experience.

I can think of other times where I've just gone out on my own and let myself sink into the new. There have been some conferences, my first time going to OPE, heck, packing up and moving to Missouri was really going into new territory. I just went wholeheartedly into the experience and had a good time in the process. However, if there are people I know already in a new environment, I do find myself flocking to them and not reaching out as much.

Of course, some of this was also coming to mind when the director of the ESL program was talking about international students wanting to move to different residence halls because they currently don't have anyone from their host country. Now, there are a lot of factors in play and I cannot say that I know exactly what they are feeling, but I think the conflict between comfort zone and fully jumping into the new can make people feel uneasy.

Alright, I should probably end this entry before I go on for another 45 minutes, especially now that I've started to talk about helping international students adjust to living in another country. Definitely need to rest up for tomorrow, which will be Miss American Rose Day.

DFTBA