Critical Periods in the Life of a Peace Corps Volunteer

At some point during training, Peace corps gave us a handout titled "Critical Periods in the Life of a Peace Corps Volunteer". It basically outlines your service from month-to-month and list some of the negative issues and behaviors/reactions that are to be expected. It also lists possible interventions to address the negative issues and reactions.

We are in month 19 now. The handout suggests (among other things) that I should be seeing an increased work pace, becoming more aware of my time constraints and my own limitations.

The increased work pace is true, we have had something on the calendar every week this month and every week next month too.

Awareness of time constraints, well, sort of....I am feeling sort of stuck, becoming aware of how much more time that's still left...lots. There's not much going on here, just workshops on the calendar. And so much that could be going on in America - buying a house, starting a family, a salary, things like that. I spend a lot of time waiting - waiting for the next meal, or waiting to go back to America or waiting until it time to start the day's activities. Right now I am waiting for a plane to fly overhead. Nora will be on the plane, she's coming back to the village to die. There's a big meal planned for her return.

And awareness of own limitations - yes. And what a crappy issue. I am feeling remarkably under-utilized. And that I should never apply for a job that has the words 'self-starter' in the job description.

My behavior/reactions to these issues [according to the handout] might include procrastination, self-recrimination, resignation, disappointment, and downgrading of achievements. I didn't know what self-recrimination meant so I had to look it up in the dictionary - it's about telling yourself all the things you should have done differently, blaming yourself for all the mistakes you made.

These sound about right, the waiting is due to resignation. There's lots of self-recrimination if you're me. The downgrading of achievements is also true, and comforting.

Proposed interventions include visiting new volunteers, exercise, focusing on relationships at site, and re-examining goals and time-frame.