Hellena in Wonderland...

I saw an “updated” version of Alice in Wonderland with Johnny Depp the other day.  The movie was mildly entertaining but what stayed with me was the message.  The heroine Alice found herself going “down the rabbit hole” once again – this time to save Wonderland from the Evil Queen of Hearts.  This faraway place held both mystery and adventure for Alice – something that was missing from her life up above.    

Ultimately, what Alice found down the rabbit hole was herself.  It wasn’t that she didn’t have a sense of Alice; she simply hadn’t put her spirit to the test.  Up above she was to be married off to some young buffoon she did not love. This man could not or would not appreciate what an adventurous women he had before him.  In Wonderland however, Alice got to be brave, take risks, and believe in herself as she’s never done before.  And so it made sense that after Alice “saved” Wonderland, she saved herself from a loveless marriage and sailed off to new adventures.

My tag line at UoP is “what will I learn today?” And as the universe would have it, it became a two-way learning experience.  The study of Human Services is making me reflect on what I know, or rather, what I “thought” I knew about the people that utilize these services.  It also made me question my own hidden prejudices – again something I didn’t know was there until it was brought to light.  As a coach, I’ve learned that when one is discovering, there is no room for shame, guilt or regret (you’ve done enough of that already) - only acknowledgment, curiosity and a willingness to change.   

I also learned that I LOVE to write and research!  For me it’s the adventure of going “down the rabbit hole” to discover something I never knew before and share it with the world.  My first paper, What is Human Services received a perfect 10 out of 10!  I am quite pleased since a paper is graded on the following criteria: content/conceptualization, logical organization of thought, ideas and structure, clarity, spelling and grammar and APA (American Psychological Association) format (how the paper is structured). I’ve also given my first presentation with my learning team and again received a perfect score - thank you Toastmasters!

I look forward to my continuation down this rabbit hole and discovering more about Hellena and what she is capable of.  I already know that the sky’s the limit. But boy…what a ride it will be!

Hellena