Asking for their names and aiding them with simple tasks that I could achieve from the front desk was a great way for me to slowly get to know these wonderful people. Asking residents, “How are you doing today?” or even the staff, “How can I help?” allowed me to get more involved within the system. One thing I did notice about my first gut reaction was that if I would walk by someone who looked dirty, I continuously found myself holding my breath, rather than walking towards my discomfort. Little things like this were happening to me and I did not like myself for it, so I decided to change my attitude.
I did not discuss this with anyone, but I wanted to focused more on working on it alone to gain more self-control. Soon after doing a lot of self evaluating at the front desk, Sam Barr, my advisor suggested that I go to the kid’s room and hangout with them while their parents were in private meetings. One of my goals was to get more involved with children and really learn if this is something that I can do in my future, so this is when I physically pulled myself out of my comfort zone. I don’t seem to do well with children, but I was able to hold revealing and humorous conversations with a few of