I almost wish I could tell the whole story of The Bad Event of last weekend, but it would require far too much background, not to mention a lot of specifics that put my anonymity at risk – I’ll admit the odds are miniscule that anyone who knows me in non-virtual life is reading this particular thread; and it’s not like I’m some VIP who has to protect my identity from the media 
; it just makes me more comfortable to keep identifying details to a minimum, so, alas, no story.
But the irate person was a parent, so that ratcheted up the emotions A LOT. Nobody wants to feel like they are not doing one hundred percent when kids are involved, and her complaints – in the form of incredulous questions – just devastated me. Weirdly, i didn’t even catch on that she was angry right away. So it was almost like some old movie where somebody – and that would be me – gets hit from behind with a frying pan. Only instead of seeing stars and tweety-birds, I see personal failure and tears.
Setting aside the question of whether I was right or wrong, the whole experience left me with a resolve to never take on that particular role again. Which is a shame, since it’s a volunteer thing, and so I feel like I’m ducking yet another responsibility, but honestly, a lot of the volunteer opportunities that come along never seem to play to my strengths. Organizing events? Making phone calls? Supervising and chaperoning? Not really the skill sets of an introverted inattentive ADDer.
Focus on what you’re good at….
I had a free moment in a waiting room and decided to brainstorm a few strengths that I could put on a card, per Rick’s excellent suggestion. I made a llst of about ten things, and then realized that nearly all of them were totally subjective. I’m funny? Says who?
I almost want to run my list past some kind of review board or something: “Item four: Writes well. Show of hands, please….”
REPORT ABUSE