30 Day Challenge: I Am (My New About Me Page)
I think for many people, including myself, writing an “ About Me” page reminds me of sitting in an interview and trying to condense who you are down to what is relevant for convincing the person that you have completed said task. I have often felt like… “ Tell me what you want to know! This filter isn’t natural…isn’t everything already on my resume?” or perhaps, it reminds you of applying for college or whatever scenario brings up that “ Am I Enough?” anxiety.
However, I know that it is a necessary part of telling “My Story” and of being seen in this process. So here are the facts about me. Some of the context and background for “ My Story”.
I am a 32 year old female and am currently living in a village in the Eastern Part of Moldova, a conflict zone that borders Tranistria. I live in a village along the Nistru or (Dniester River) called Dubăsarii Vechi. I will go more into the history and background of my village in the next Post (Home). I work as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Community Organizational Development Sector. This means that I wear a lot of different hats. Essentially, my job is to help communities assess their needs and to teach the skills necessary for these communities to rally and create grassroots movements, in community development. My primary organization is the Local Public Administration. I work in the “Primaria” which is Romanian for Town Hall. I work directly with the Vice Mayor and the Librarian who both play major roles in the village’s economic and human development. I will discuss more about these roles and my work directly, in later posts.
I have a background in Social Work and Public Administration. Before coming to Moldova, I spent several years working for the State of Tennessee as a contractor helping to manage disability services for individuals who received state funding Also, I was a part-time life coach and meditation instructor, which I really enjoyed but didn’t quite bring home the bacon. I ended up getting very “burnt out” on social work and bureaucracy. I needed a change and a new hair color just wasn’t going to do it this time! My choice to do Peace Corps service was more complicated than this but my feelings of being “burnt out” were definitely a contributing factor.
I genuinely have that feeling of wanting to “make a change in the world” and it doesn’t actually mean what you think it does. This could be an entirely different blog post and likely will be! However, I grew up with the innate feeling that my purpose was to “do something big” or “create positive changes”, as many of us bleeding hearts do. My perspective on this has changed but I feel that I am genuinely wired this way…wide-eyed, ready to explore and learn and make big changes. However, these days it’s less about changing others and more about being of service to the people around me and allowing them to make the changes they need for themselves. This is how this feeling has evolved over the past 10 years or so. Maybe we Peace Corps volunteers are “wired this way”. :-)
This blog is about me but not really about “me”…It’s about how my service has changed me. It’s about what service actually means and me having to get over myself in so many ways to really understand that and to learn that getting over myself often leads to me getting out of my own way.
“POFTIM”
So if you would like to connect with me and my current projects please Follow my blog: https://medium.com/the-american-in-the-village or connect with me on Facebook and Instagram!
