Training

Photo by Kary Schumpert.

Training is on my mind. I have volunteer training, training for a new work contract, a new running plan, a poetry class (self-guided from a book), and a photography course (on DVDs that I checked out from the library) to complete.

I recently recommitted to being a volunteer Crisis Counselor for the Crisis Text Line. Since it had been well over a year when I last volunteered, I asked if I could retake the online volunteer training, and signed up for the two-week online training that began last Wednesday. It takes about 30 hours to complete the training, so there is a lot to cover in the next couple of weeks. Because I want to retain the information, I am being careful to complete the training in smaller chunks so I have time to take thorough notes and to give myself extra time to turn in the assignments. I am looking forward to volunteering regularly again, and this training is helping me to prepare.

I looked at the calendar and realized there are about nine weeks left in the year. I have been thinking of ways to honor the year’s end and new year and I decided I want to run a 5K on New Year’s Eve and another 5K on New Year’s Day. There aren’t any 5K races in town on either of those dates, so I just plan to run on my own to end the year and welcome the new one. There is a 10-week 5K training plan that I have followed before, so I am going to use the same one with a couple of slight adjustments. Sometimes it’s nice to have a running goal, and a training plan helps to keep me on track.

I just signed a contract with a new-to-me company. The next couple of weeks will include some training to learn the ins and outs of the platform and the new curriculum. Starting something new in work is always both exciting and daunting, and I can’t wait to welcome new students.

Last week I mentioned that I was doing a lot of reading and rereading and had started using Frances Mayes’s book The Discovery of Poetry as the basis for a self-directed class in poetry. This book is used as the text in many introductory college poetry classes, so I figured I could do the same, even on my own. I am in my first week, and it’s going well. I went to the library the other day and found a “course” on the principles of photography in a set of DVDs and decided to add this to my learning. The fun of self-directed courses is you can go at your own speed. Of course, there there is no one to check in with me on assignments or to see how I am learning and applying that knowledge. I think of these two classes as training, to urge me on as a student and teacher, and to develop further, in skills, knowledge, and reflection.

Training implies we have more to learn, with a motive and goal in mind. I am in training mode. It begins in many directions, pushing and pulling me forward.