Monday, July 27, 2015

Taylor Eljaua Orientation Week 7

Activities
·      Inventory of more orientation supplies
·      Finished shredding
·      Worked out with Kelly and Kylie
·      Put together thank you gifts for Orientation presenters

Experience
As my hours are coming to a close, my practicum experience is winding down. It was a very relaxed week last week. Between now and my last post blog post I have not really done too much more. I have continued to shred unnecessary documents from Orientation season, continued to take inventory and organized the office in general.  However something new that I did this week was take in a lunch break work out with Kelly and Kylie. As I was working in in Kylie’s office on Friday morning, Kelly came in and said “do you want to go to a barre class at lunch with Kylie and I today?” At first I was hesitant, should I go? I thought to myself. It felt like I was not gaining direct practicum experience. I also felt guilty because I was already skipping training to be at practicum and I worried that this was not a good use or an abuse of my time out of training. Ultimately I decided to go. The more I thought about it the more I realized, yes, it is a good use of my time.  As odd as it felt to use my lunch break as personal time to work out, I realized it was a part of the practicum experience. I was experiencing the culture of the office. Being able to go work our shows that the department values their employs personal wellness. It shows that Kylie the director of the department is able to model good personal wellness for her employs by participating in activities with her employs. If anyone was curious, the barre class was hard, but good! It boosted my mood for the rest of the day. I felt more inclined to limit the junk I was eating even if I “didn’t have time to eat” as I have caught myself saying time and time again.

Theory to Practice
            Being raised in the student affairs sense your res life, I've not truly developed a good work life balance. "Fake it till you make it" is the phrase I lived all of my undergrad life by a student Affairs professionals and for more specifically a Reslifer I preach this idea of personal wellness and work life balance. I expect my Resident Advisors to have it, I teach my residence to have it, so how come I do not have it? It could be because I'm just faking. I am appearing to have good personal wellness but I might not always be there. They're just too many things to get done too many relationships to forge and not enough hours in the day. Sometimes it just becomes too difficult to meet the basic needs. Under my business needs. Physical wellness. Reflecting on Maslow's hierarchy of needs unless you have the basic needs of sustaining life, eating well and exercising maintaining a healthy body, you cannot be an asset to yourself or to others around you. This theory brings to light how sometimes faking might not always mean that you'll make it something has to give unless you maintain yourself. Working with orientation this last summer and noticed that Kelly and Kylie both take time for personal wellness. I think this has a positive influence on the culture of the office. Both hardly ever seen overstressed they always seem very organized and they don't lack focus. They may be tired from time to time as the work it's rough but overall they are happy with their jobs and happy with your lives.

Text to practice


This weeks reading in chapter 8 asks us to look toward our paths in student affairs. I think reflecting on orientation and residence life I can easily say that while we do so much and residence life and we want to do good we run ourselves into the ground. This experience in orientation has made me realize that if I continue to have a career that requires me to be on for 24 hours a day 7 days a week, I will run my self ragged and never learn to take time for myself. I think as I look toward the job search process I will take into consideration the flexibility of the job and what the department values in terms of personal wellness.

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