What It Means

Doug Nol is a Michigan's AmeriCorps member serving at the Goodwill Grand Rapids AmeriCorps Partnership.

As my time with AmeriCorps comes to a close, I remember thinking a specific question on the day that I started my term and many days before that. The question - what does it mean? I found myself continually wondering what the meaning of events were and am I showing success in life. But as I look now at everything I have accomplished since I began my AmeriCorps service, I find that my tone has changed. Instead of asking "what does it mean,” I am finding answers instead of questions. I no longer focus on if I have done something perfectly, but rather how the things I have done have been helpful to me. This significant difference in my thinking leaves me no longer asking "what does it mean" and instead knowing what is means.

Before AmeriCorps, I would often feel defeated because of my physical disability - cerebral palsy. While I knew in my heart that my disability did not define me, I also began to believe that my possibilities and capabilities were limited because of it and this made me question what I could do in life. Though I still sometimes struggle with that perception, after serving a year as an Employability Skills Coach for Goodwill's R.E.A.C.H. team,  I now believe in my strengths. During my service, I have been able to use my gifts of strong communications skills, relationship building, and an intuitive instinct to help our program participants see their strengths and how they can be used in the work place. Discovering these strengths empowers people who feel confined by their limitations and circumstances to find work and as a result of my service with Goodwill, I have acquired a passion for working in workforce development with people with physical and mental disadvantages. By helping these individuals to achieve Goodwill's motto of "Changing lives and communities through the power of work," I am ironically living out the motto myself. Who would have guessed?

Another thing my AmeriCorps service has meant for me is discovering what areas I needed growth in and striving to do better in those areas by learning from the friends I made in my AmeriCorps group. To spare my friends any embarrassment and protect the innocent, I have left their names out but I do want to share what I have learned from them and express my enthusiasm to live by their example. A couple of months after my AmeriCorps service began I was severely injured in an automobile accident and broke my left leg. Shortly after my return, the AmeriCorps members were expected to learn bus routes and walk around the downtown area learning about resources in the community. Needless to say many people, including myself, wondered if I could complete the task. I found that I could, in part because I had a friend who walked with me during that time, allowing me to lean on her whenever I needed to. While this gesture may have seemed small to her, it reminded me of the importance of self-sacrifice and being there to help people despite the personal discomforts or agendas we deal with on a daily basis.

Another friend taught me what it means to attentively be hospitable and continually make the choice to include others in our lives on a relational basis as well as a professional one as she has regularly asked me to be involved with events apart from work. I have always struggled with allowing myself to be vulnerable with people and opening up to show who I really am due to a fear of rejection. But after seeing the attentiveness of my friend and how important community is, I have begun to re-think that choice.

Last, but not least I have a friend who I would talk with on a daily basis and who constantly represented an attitude of caring and dedication. Though she ensured her tasks were completed efficiently, she would balance this by taking time to listen to me when I needed someone to talk to. I hope to carry on this example in my own life.
  

As you can see, I have a great deal of things over the past year about what it means -  from self-sacrifice and humility, to finding a personal and professional balance in my life. I want to thank AmeriCorps and Goodwill Industries of Greater Grand Rapids for all the life lessons learned this year and for equipping me to become a better servant to the community. Blessings to you all, and remember to live life fully.