February 9, 2024
Moving Forward
At the end of our 6th week, it suddenly feels like everything is happening very quickly. Our last group trip is next week; our first group project and organization reports are due next week, and I’m already registering for next quarters classes. I look back on the time we’ve had here and wonder what I have done. In the moment, the first three weeks felt packed and like we were doing so much but now it can be hard to remember everything. Maybe because many things were only so interesting, surprising, or funny because they were firsts. Now that we’ve settled in and found other purpose in our organizations and working on our projects, many of those crazy things in the beginning have blended into our new normal.
This week I found myself feeling anxious and antsy to get through our work. Suddenly the plans we laid out for ourselves at the start of the program seemed impossible to achieve and other aspirations I had about traveling to different cities each weekend or exploring new parts of Bangalore are dejected by our responsibilities and duties. I tried to combat this by keeping myself organized and pushing to make progress. After three weeks, we have gotten to know our organization, Sensing Local, well and worked on projects including designing a lake auditing system, surveying key lakes in the area, and formulating an education module. Writing this down, I realize this is a lot to have achieved already but, in the moment, I was itching for the next step. Our group has had delays picking a GCIL social entrepreneurship project focus due to postponed meetings with our organization and doubts on whether our ideas would be feasible or desirable to local communities. This week we finally decided to buckle down and brainstorm problems and ideate solution despite still waiting to have a meeting with our organization on what they see as problems or desired next steps for their walkability project.
This constant uncertainty has been difficult for me. Yesterday we heard how Ridgley has found comfort in his routine, and I envy that ability to set a plan and stick to it, especially here. I find that anytime I set an agenda here, some unforeseen obstacle pops up and the plan is derailed. Lakes being closed from 9 am – 4 pm, organization heads having unexpected meeting, or large swaths of GCIL students falling ill. There’s always something. It has tested my patience and flexibility and helped me realize that even though our time in India is limited, nothing needs to be rushed or overly stressed about. Focusing on what’s to come is only taking away from everything I’m experiencing and observing in the little moments. Once we’re back, we’ll be dreaming of the warm sunny days in Bangalore regretting overthinking our blog posts, GCIL social media, and story in 7 sentences.
By Lucy
