Now, the internship is over for me and another track has started. I made a lot of friends with the track 1-ers. However, being around here, pursuing a staff position, and around the interns a lot makes me really miss the internship. The internship is so beneficial for so many reasons. It hedges us in. It schedules our lives for us. We have three to six months of not having any concerns for where to find food, friendships or activities that engage our minds and hearts. The internship provides all of that.
Now, I have to figure out my own schedule. There's no one to make sure I'm doing that schedule and sleeping on time. I have no pressure to do anything. I have to figure out what I'm going to study in the Word and actually make myself do it. I have to figure out what to do with my free time. And that's probably where my current struggle is.
I want to hang out with the interns and be their friend still. But, I don't want to stunt my own growth by regressing into internship mode because that was safe. I really need to live life outside of the internship. I need to find things that will get me to be around the prayer room, and set aside time for relationships and still getting filled with thought provoking teaching.
It really comes down to boundaries. What boundaries are healthy in relating to interns? saying yes or no to activities? hanging out with friends? what to do with my free time? These are things I guess I have to navigate as I grow up. This growing up thing isn't all it's cracked up to be. It's great! Don't get me wrong. But whoever said that being a grown up is awesome really didn't think that through. Sigh... So ist das Leben!
