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.