To my Dear Colleagues:

As we move on to our different paths, I would like to acknowledge your support as well as your wise teachings. I've learned from every single one of you and you've enriched my perspectives through different lenses. I will certainly like to keep in touch with you all through this blog of mine and be sure that I will get back to you whenever I'm honored to offer my help. Thanks once again and best wishes in everything you do .
Elisa

The Adjourning Process

I had a very authentic and fun group in my cohort back in university. We understood each other, supported each other, and we worked cooperatively. We even spent time together just to hang out and have some fun. It was hard to adjourn from them because we trusted each other and was a sense of responsibility was established among us.  I still talk to them and occasionally get together.

The Walden experience has been very enriching for me, not only because of the issues and comments from my instructors, but for the genuine intentions from my colleagues. I think the adjourning process from my colleagues would be a little bit sad because through their experience I’ve also grown as a practitioner. Thanks to their feedback and personal stories, is not so hard to study online. The complexity of the program relaxes thanks to their insightful thinking. Without a doubt they’ve made this journey so much easier and actually fun. 

Avoiding Conflict

Two weeks ago I went to an early learning certification program. In one of the activities I had to play the role of the instructor and the rest of my colleagues had to act like children. The thing was that they over reacted to the scenario and were very rude in their behavior. At the end to the role play, they themselves noticed it and apologized to me. I said to them that it was ok just to demonstrate that their offenses couldn’t hurt me because I was stronger than them. At the end of the class my instructor asked me if I was ok and my tears rolled down. Then my instructor talked with the other girls in the class when I was present and said to them that such behavior was not acceptable. Then I talked to the group about how I felt and after that I felt so much better.

Now that I think of it, when the girls apologized to me and I said to them I was fine, I didn’t want them to think that they had made me collapse, I wanted to look strong, but I also was avoiding conflict because I feared that the great chemistry we had would be lost. But at the same time I wasn’t willing to accept their apologies because my feelings were hurt. When I openly talked about my feelings in front of the group it made me feel so much better and it was then when I could forgive them. This reminds me of the 3S, conflict is not a bad thing, “it is a healthy process, necessary for making progress and dealing with injustice”.   

The Third Side. (n.d.). The third side. Retrieved from http://www.thirdside.org/