I've been missing for 11 days; Trudging through

So...you may or may not have noticed but I disappeared for eleven days. It wasn't a voluntary disappearance, I assure you. Call it kidnapping if you will; kidnapping by stress, reading, working, and trying to get my laundry done.

It has been a crazy two weeks. I've been a busy bee at work, trying to get all updated on all of my progress notes, SOC 160s, quarterlies, and just all paperwork in general.

Now, I started to write a post about a week ago and kept coming back to it. Here ya go:

"It's amazing what difference a day can make"

Tuesday was a crazy day. It was one of those days that you anticipate and dread at the same time, a day chalk full of emotions, and a day where you feel like you were running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

After worrying, being frustrated, and trying to wrap my head around all things internship related all weekend long, I arrived at my internship.

If you recall from one of my previous blogs "Fine Lines," I was very offended/frustrated when I was sent an email by my internship that said we would not be reimbursed for our mileage until all of our paperwork was completed and up-to-date. Needless to say, I entered my internship trying to remain calm while experiencing a vast amount of emotion under the surface.

I spent the morning before the staff meeting speaking with my fellow interns and just trying to figure out how to wrap my head around what was happening. Staff meeting started, and I could swear that our boss could see the fear/anger/frustration in our eyes. In the meeting she addressed the issue and said that she didn't mean to come off as harsh, but she did at the same time.

All of the interns were looking around at each other like "what?" She went on to explain that we were not responsible for anything that was due before we were allowed to start working with clients...but we are all still responsible for updating client's files.

*Insert collective sigh of relief*

I learned a variety of lessons that day:

• don't spend time freaking out/worrying about something before you know the facts
• don't underestimate/predict your co-workers/boss' actions
• don't panic over your workload before you know its magnitude
• if you just start working, you'll get more done which = less stress
• social work is stressful and you never know what it will throw at you (like life!)

SUMMARY: Keep calm and carry on. "Everything you want is on the other side of fear." -Jack Canfield

In other news, I got an A on my first grad school research paper. Woohoo!! It was titled "Adoption Assistance and Foster Care: The Absence of Foster Parent Adoptions".
I will try to keep this updated this week...especially because I leave on Thursday to attend a meeting for the CALSWEC (CA Social Work Educators Committee) Title IV-E planning meeting in Los Angeles. I'm sure that's going to be an interesting and informative experience all on its own that I'll definitely have to document. For now, back to homework!