Reflection Day 2

First Day at the Institute - 2nd Day for Most

As I entered the room, I was a bit hesitant to do so.  Not only was I worried as I had missed a day, but everyone was busily working as I entered.  The new kid walking into class.  Hmm, now what do I do I thought to myself.  Of course as luck would have it I sat at the wrong place and didn't know we had to be in assigned groups.  Luckily I saw my name tent on another table and moved to it.  So glad I wound up with the group I was in, not that the others were not great as well.  For the first day, I could breathe a sigh of relief as my colleagues were easy to converse with and open to ideas.  One of the things that I was most worried about when I signed up for this course.  As I got settled, I heard that we had to reflect on letting go.  I was able to freely write about that, but still hadn't found my groove yet, still uneasy about what I had missed and how behind I was having missed the first day.

Thankfully, Brenda presented and had us work to share our thoughts about focus.  An ice breaker of sorts for me.  As we shared our ideas in the group, those around me were accepting of ideas and able to have great constructive conversations about our ideas that had differed from those around us.  Interestingly enough it was men against women where our ideas were concerned.  Fun to see how we both looked at the same writings and how our opinions took different twists and turns. 

From there I looked at the board, the moment I had been dreading .  .   .   .   . the narrative.  Ugh, do I really have to join a group?  Off we went in our narrative groups to share the writing with our peers.  Thankfully, I can say the process was more than positive and surprisingly, my peers had the same hesitancy that I had prior to sharing my writing.  The group consisted of members that wrote deeply personal stories, stories that jumped in and when to the heart of the matter.  Having never read my story aloud to anyone, I was ever so thankful to be with the people with whom I was.  Not only were they encouraging, they were very kind in their suggestions as to how to improve the quality of my writing.  Perhaps it was due to the fact that I shared my hesitancy after I read my writing, but mostly I think it is due to the fact that they were just supportive writers that were brought together for a common purpose.  All in all, I think by lunch, I had found my grove.   I do not have feelings of trepidation about what is to come, but excitement for what I have to learn.  I hope that is not a bad thing????  Should I be worried????