My LAD Journey (Heather)
You, the reader, may be familiar with Letters Against Depression, the letters sent to recipients, the volunteers who write blogs, write letters, create hugs, and more. You may have heard about the LAD internship program offered three times a year. And, if you are like me, you may assume that the internship is only for the young – high school students preparing their college applications or college students rounding out their education.
Decision
That was me three months ago. I thought, “No, no, no, I can’t intern with LAD. I’m not a student; I’m too old. I played with Lite Bright when I was five years old. These young people were using smartphones and tablets at that age! What do I know? I will be lost, unneeded. I will embarrass myself!”
However, with some encouragement from my best friend, I filled out the application. I met for the interview, and I almost passed out when I got accepted! I started asking myself, “What have I gotten myself into?” At the same time, I was excited and asking myself, “What will I learn?”
New Skills
I knew I was equipped with basic computer skills, but my computer skills had not been officially upgraded since I left college in the early 2000s. I was not naïve about my outdated abilities and know-how, yet still, in the first week of the internship, I found myself more than a little overwhelmed. I had lots of new applications and programs coming my way. I had heard of a few, but I had used none. The list was daunting at best: Canva, Trello, Dropbox, Discord… would it ever end!?
The list more or less came to an end, with a few new ones popping up along the way, like iMovie. The exciting thing is that these apps are a part of my daily life now; most I use at least once a week and some I visit daily during the internship. I even host events on Zoom! And record to the cloud! The best part is no one has judged me. My mentor, who is young enough to be my daughter, has patiently taught me how to better use the camera on my iPad, the editors painstakingly edit my video content, and I greatly appreciate them all.
Contribution
One fear I had at the beginning was the fear that I would be useless. I no longer have that fear. I have found that while I’m not proficient in some areas (e.g., editing video content) I flourish in other areas. I have learned a lot of new skills and by matching those skills with existing skills I believe I have contributed to the LAD organization. I also believe all groups and organizations benefit from age diversity.
Conclusion
If you are considering interning with LAD but are not a student or are older than one might expect for such an internship, please don’t let that stop you! Age begets life experiences and creates different perspectives that fuel growth, and growth in any organization is always needed and valued. You may find yourself waist-high in new knowledge, but isn’t that how we keep growing? Lifelong learning is always a journey in the making. Don’t let fear stop you from taking that journey.