Reflections on Training

It's difficult to believe that it's been more than a year since I started volunteering with Disaster Management, and even harder to reconcile with the fact that I am now at the supervisor level while concurrently teaching new volunteers as an instructor. I've been out on a deployment in Saskatoon, both worked and supervised in the call centre, and interviewed more than a dozen new volunteers.

Whither will all this lead? Certainly, it's useful experience, but will it help me get to where I want to go? How should I use these experiences to show who I have become?

The past weekend in Victoria was a blast. I had forgotten how good company and a sense of purpose can put my life in clear focus, while relieving the stress and confusion caused by lack of confidence. Yet again, I ended up the object of good-humoured teasing. Those crazy loons from the Island sure know how to make even disasters fun!

Throughout the course, I kept asking myself if there were anything else I could have done in Saskatoon, and in other situations brought up in the training. Take the drunk lady, for example. How could I forget to take the beer away? How did I miss Gary's (feigned, ...or not) attempts to pick her up? Even when I lay in bed last night, I was still thinking of all the mistakes and remedies.

It was then that I realized the power of the vest. As soon as I put it on, I became someone else. The bold and glaring red gave me authority and a sense of focus, drove away my fears of failure, and amplified my natural ability to remain calm and logical.

If only there were a Red Cross vest for all the things we do in life!