This is a brief summary of what I felt the day following my CH-Q presentation. I have tried to give an idea of how I experienced this course and what I learnt from it. Although I am unable to work due to illness, I intend to use the acquired knowledge to help me move further in a new and positive direction.

It is the ‘day after the night before’ and I feel as if I am on a cloud! I can now breathe a sigh of relief! It’s finished! The course, CH-Q level 1, culminating in an oral presentation , marks the end of weeks of intense study. These have been weeks of highs and lows; looking back at where I came from , assessing my present, and now, with a better recognition of my competencies and skills, planning for my future. The amount of reading, writing and researching involved used up a lot of my mental and physical energy but the process of (re)discovering my particular “arena” has also helped me regain some of my lost drive.

Even though I had my share of doubts about my ability to carry on with the course, I used perseverance, a strength of mine highlighted during the course, to push on an finish.Yesterday evening, at the Haagsche Hoge School I gave my first ever oral presentation. I had spent many days preparing for it, firstly writing and rewriting what I wanted to say, followed by practicing, alone and in front of my family. I was still busy changing the text right up until the moment I left home!

Confident and nervous

On my way to Den Haag I was feeling both confident about what I wanted to say, and nervous about standing in front of my fellow students, trainer and assessor, and exposing myself , as it were! As we made our way to the classroom, after having dinner in the restaurant of the Hogeschool ,I was quite relaxed and already enjoying the evening. This could be explained by the glass of robust wine with the meal. After we were introduced to the assessor , our trainer looked around the room for a volunteer to begin the proceedings.  I don’t know where it came from but I suddenly found myself offering  to go first! This action of putting myself forward was untypical of me but it felt the right thing to do at that moment and showed how far I had come over the months.  My bravery also meant that I was first to have my presentation over and done with!

Stepping out of my “comfort zone”

As I went to the top of the table, arranged my papers, looked around the room and prepared to speak, all eyes were on me. I delivered my opening – slightly humorous - line and felt I had the audience’s attention. I continued to deliver my presentation with ease and to my great surprise, enjoyed doing so. At the end of the evening I was showered with compliments from my fellow students, both on what I had said and how I had said it. I could not believe how well I had coped with stepping out of my “comfort zone”.
The next step is to keep the momentum going, continue developing the competencies we explored during the course and to move forward with my Personal Action Plan, i.e. factual writing, translation work on a voluntary basis and improving on my verbal communication skills. First though, some well deserved rest  I think, but in the knowledge that I can rightly feel proud of a new achievement. The CH-Q course has spurred me on to want to feel this way again and preferably in the not too distant future! Now, as the day progresses the adrenaline buzz is decreasing and tiredness is beginning to set in, but I’m still on my cloud. I love it up here!!

Written by: Deirdre de Jong-Murray