42 Days After AmeriCorps

I consider myself so fortunate. I was an AmeriCorps VISTA for 365 days. And without a doubt, they were the most inspirational, motivating and poignant days of my life.

Now I've been home for 42 days. Actually, I've been in transition for 42 days. And I cannot find it in me, mentally or emotionally, to say goodbye to my year of AmeriCorps service. Each day I feel myself struggling. Struggling to fill the void that has been left by such an incredible experience coming to a close. I realize now that I simply wasn't prepared ...

I wasn't prepared for the year to go by so fast.
I wasn't prepared to so deeply miss a community that I knew for so short a time.
I wasn't prepared to mourn. The loss of a period of intense purpose, turning my passion into action every single day, beside others doing the same - the emptiness is gripping.

No one told me that ending my year of service would be harder than beginning it. I simply wasn't prepared ...

42 days. 42. Jackie Robinson. A man who showed great courage and unwavering determination to change the status quo. He said, "A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives."

I couldn't agree more. And that's where I struggle. How will I take everything I learned, everything I felt, everything I became ... and turn it into not just a year of service, but a life of service? How will I continue to make an impact?