All Day Training

All day training.
There was a time when I loved going to training. I always considered myself a learner. I thrived on opportunities to learn something new. I was like a sponge.

I was thinking about it today, and I spent a huge portion of my life doing what came naturally, so learning wasn’t that difficult. I picked things to train in that I had a natural bent towards. The result was that I tended to take the role of the really talented “student.” My star shined a little brighter and I received positive strokes and feedback—and it felt good!

Today was the first all day training I’ve been to for over four years. At the end of the day my head felt like an over-blown balloon: stretched tight and ready to explode. This was nothing I was used to or very good at. Mostly it was related to accounting and math related stuff. Way, way out of my comfort zone. But I felt I needed to wrap my brain around as much as I could. The more training, the more training in different fields, the more I know, the more valuable I become—as an employee.

Now, catch that. I almost missed it. There was a time when being more valuable as an employee meant (in my brain) that I was more valuable as a person. Not today. Greater knowledge equals greater job security but not worth as a person.

I wish I could tell you how absolutely wonderful that feels. It took all the pressure off of learning today. Sure my brain was stretched, but I wasn’t looking for brownie points I wanted to understand a difficult process. I don’t have it all nailed down, but that’s OK! And that is amazingly freeing.

Then tonight, I joined the choir at church. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE singing? There was an announcement and invitation in the bulletin for individuals who wanted to sing in the Christmas musical to come and practice with the choir.

I went. It felt so good to sing. Joining voices with others, reading music, singing really high notes and having them come out right—well, even just having them come out! It was glorious.

And when it was all done, my head didn’t hardly hurt at all. Now my muscles from exercising last night—well that’s another story.