End of January I went to Colorado Springs for a week long debrief. I was supposed to go in November but the class was filled. Wasn't able to go in December because of the holidays they didn't offer one. The "rules" for the debrief were we needed to disconnect from the world and be in the moment. We needed to use this time for us and focus on us. During the day they encouraged us to not check emails, turn our phones off and really pay attention.
I was not looking forward to going. Excited to travel and be back in Colorado but not looking forward to what I knew this week would involve. I called a friend from the airport who I worked with in Afghanistan and had gone to pre-field training with. She's back in the States and she told me this week "would be like a good enema, uncomfortable but in the end you'll feel a lot better." My friend isn't a nurse but as a nurse I really appreciated the analogy. It ended up being the perfect description of the week. It was uncomfortable to talk about all I saw but in the end it was exactly what I needed.
There were about twenty people in the class. One of the couples had been working in Afghanistan, I had actually met them while I was there as they were passing through the city. Another couple who worked w/my sending organization but if a different country and a couple who I had been at pre-field training with. It was great to see them. The rest were people who had been all over the world working for various lengths of time.
We laughed a lot. We cried at times and we learned a ton. It was amazing to be with so many people who really knew what it was like. Who really understood how this experience has changed my world view.
One couple had been working in a country for 4-months when the husbands life had been threatened and they pulled the whole family out. Her and I spent a lot of time talking during the week. He joked with me that I was the crazy one for working in a war zone. I thought he was crazy because he brought his children to live in the jungle. Guess its all relative.
The week was just what I needed before I started my new job. I can't articulate fully how being able to debrief and really talk about it helped. It still is helping because now I feel like I have to tools to be gracious with people around me when we can't understand each other.
It's been much harder to be back then it ever was to go. I was really excited to go and being back didn't make sense. I was and am very glad to be home. But it wasn't what I expected. Oh well, life isn't what we expect. Hahaha.
Keep Smiling!
