Week 7

One of the most important things I learned this summer, throughout the seven weeks I worked at Wellspring, was how important sleep is for me.  I have never been one of those girls that can stay up till 3 and sleep till 12, nor am I the kind of girl who is chipper in the morning after less than 8 hours of sleep.  I am the type of person that needs their 8 hours or more, and needs a deep restful sleep, especially with this type of job.  The problem with working at a camp though, is that a good night's sleep can be few and far between.  There will be night when we are "on duty" and supposed to be patrolling the floors, checking that lights are off, and that campers are asleep and in bed.  These nights would require us to stay up till 11 or so and while this does not seem late, it could sometimes be hard to fall asleep after this was over.  Also we needed to be up by about 6:20 to get all our campers up as well to be out the door by 7:15 and ready fr walk at 7:30.  I loved the morning walks I had after a full night's rest; however, there were a couple mornings that my coffee was an invaluable resource.  I found that for the night's I couldn't get to bed, or something came up, that the coffee was my saving grace.
     Realizing this about myself was important.  I found I was incredibly grounchy and cranky and just looking forward to going to bed again when I did not sleep, and that I was happy, relaxed and content when I was able to get a full 8 hours or more.  I realize that while I love working at a camp, my job in the future must be one that does not require me to work overtime, and one that I can leave when the day ends at work.  Sleep is such a vital part of human functioning, and I have learned this summer that without it I did not perform well at my job, or feel well emotionally.

Week 8 (Camp over for a bit...)

Although a few weeks have passed since the end of my internship, I have found that there were aspects of my job that I loved, and aspects of it that taught me something, but that I could still live without.  Writing my paper and doing my project on Human Services and self-care, I found that it was easier to reflect on my time working at Wellspring in a more objective way.  For example, understanding the amount of stress my supervisor was under made me realize that it was not only my self-care that was suffering at times.  I found there were a couple people I truly looked up to as mentors in the Human Services field, and this was helpful in gaining knowledge from my experience.  I love working for Wellspring each and every summer I have been there, but I realize that this may have been my last summer.  I love what I do there, I love working with the campers, and I love that we are able to make a change in these adolescent’s lives, but it is one of the hardest jobs in the world.  I realize that “one of the hardest jobs in the world” is also a relative term, but I believe that the amount of time, energy and effort, both physical and emotional that go into this position, are pretty extraordinary.  I am so proud of all my co-workers for staying on because I know what that must have been like for them. Understanding how important self-care in the workplace can be for my well-being is part of what inspired me to write this paper and I am so glad I did.  I found interesting articles that applied to so much of what I am interested in and I found myself reading way more sources than necessary.  The process took much longer than I anticipated, but again it is about knowing yourself so you can plan accordingly, and I clearly didn't know how much time I would require to complete such a task.  I loved working at Wellspring and learning everything I did, but I am happy I am not able to sit back and reflect on the parts of it I am most interested in.