Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Milestones

I haven't written for a while. That doesn't mean I haven't been learning and growing. I started an internship a month or two ago--that is what triggered the "Milestone". On the first day of my internship I met several other interns, talked and joked with them, and laughed a lot with my "boss". Nothing special. Or so it seems.

That night as I told my spouse about my first day at the internship, recounted the silly jokes I laughed at, and the people I met, I realized--I felt normal!

This may sound odd, but let me try to explain. As a Mormon, everytime I met someone new I went through a sort of filtering process in my mind "How do I relate to this person? Ok, they aren't LDS so I need to deal with them or approach them in this sort of way." (or try to have this kind of attitude toward them.) It was really subtle--and I guess I always noticed I did it but thought it was normal until I didn't have to act like someone I wasn't. I didn't have to control myself, second-guess myself, limit myself, or do, be, or behave in any other way other than by actually being myself! It was a realization of my own growth--a milestone. It was a fun experience and of course I built a natural rapport with the other interns.

Normal--what a milestone!

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