Life as I know it.
I feel
blessed. I am in a great working
environment that I help people in.
I have great working relationships with everyone in my workplace. I feel responsible. I feel like there is a good direction
in my life. My relationship with
my mother is great. I am dating
for the first time in forever and I actually feel like I’m ready for
someone.
Flashback six months ago. December 2014.
Every night, every day, six hours a day, throw at the bull, throw at the
bull, triple 20 triple 20. Roll up
to a 12 rating, roll down to a 10 rating, roll to 11 rating, roll to a 12
rating. Practice practice
practice. Wake up past 10
am, practice 1 hour, go to work for a few hours, practice some more.
Play at night until 2 am.
Repeat. Why? Because a friend told me he could see
me getting to the top of the darts world and I thought I should go at it. Fine. But what, you’re leeching off in your parent’s house at 31
years of age, working barely at a job that was giving me physiological stress that
maybe a chiropractor might fix with no cash savings and a psych degree. What the hell was I suppose to
do?
Three options.
1. Go become a skills
trainer. They pay well enough at
this point in my life, I have the degree for it and I think I would enjoy doing
it. 2. Go do some kinda entry level job and work your way up to
making money. Heck no. 3. Go back to school for masters. Double heck no.
So I applied to an agency, got trained by one of my good friends who was
a former skills trainer to answer questions in the interview. I got hired on the spot, 2 days of
orientation, 2 days of shadowing and came Friday. Scared out of my mind, I hoped I didn’t receive a call and
I’d think it through the weekend a try on Monday. You see skills training can be a terrifying thought. We work with humans ages 2 to early
adulthood, anywhere from high functioning to low functioning, verbal/non
verbal, aggressive to self or others, runners, trouble with social norms, and
other behaviors like spitting.
730 ok safe. No
call, probably no work till Monday.
Alrighty. Lets go eat pho
with mom, it’s her day off. Phone
rings at 1030, crap it’s my company.
Maybe I have to work today and have a runner that’s going to be able to
run faster than me and get hit by a bus. Agency: Hello.
Me: Hello. Agency: we have
a case for you. Me: Oh really? Okay let me know the details.
Long story short.
The agency put me in the best classroom with a wonderful teacher who has
been a skills trainer and educational assistant before. She handles problems right away. She has it so the class isn’t too
relaxed or too busy to the point where it stresses everyone out. It’s a perfect balance of work and
relaxation so the school year transitions easily. The EA’s spend a lot of time praying and preparing the
classroom for class to start. A
nurse with a heart of gold is there, taking care of a few students. Great warm
hearted people. Students are full
of energy, and each has their unique personalities. Skills trainers all work well with each other, all teach me
the ropes of being a better skills trainer and if I’m reinforcing the wrong
behaviors.
Life has changed.
I’m more social. I learned
to be more social because I had to teach my client how to be more social. I did a 180 flip from sleeping at 2 am
everyday to getting to bed by 10 pm to wake up at 545 am. My social life is busy. Work life is busy. My parents respect me more. I have money to gain weight with. I may go back to school. I feel like I’m ready for a girlfriend. I truly feel blessed. Whoever is watching over me, thank
you.
