Question

What distractions in your life pull your focus away from your new student responsibilities? What concerns do you have about managing these distractions? After completing the Support Network Exercise, what did you learn about your support network?

Develop and share your plan to either obtain the support you need or to grow your current support network to help alleviate some of your distractions.

Answer 1

There are a lot of distractions in my life that pull my focus away from my responsibilities as a new student. Beginning with my children. I have a two-year-old daughter who is definitely a daddy’s girl and if she is awake, she wants me to hold her, and much to her delight, I oblige. Her mother works full time until I can balance school and work and therefor when our daughter wakes up, she usually comes downstairs with me for all hours of the night. For the most part, I do my school work late at night. She will pull up this chair that she curls up on and just sleeps next to me while I work. I do have some concerns about it simply because I don’t want her to feel neglected when she is not at an age to understand what I am doing.

After completing the Support Network Exercise, I can say that it seems a little embarrassing to write this, but my responsibilities at home are very minimal. I am currently responsible for the care of my daughter during the day. Her mother doesn’t ask me to really do anything else. We share household chores. Aside from school, I don’t have any other responsibilities. I am blessed in this category. After today, I will have much more time to spend on school because my daughter is going back to daycare. I can put all my focus into school during the hours that she and her mom are gone for the day. My support system is very small. Honestly, I would only consider my daughters mom and my own mother my support system. They make sure that I have the support I need in school and in other areas of my life. As a recovering addict, it is important to keep my circle small. It’s all about quality over quantity when it comes to recovery. They are here for the good, the bad, and the ugly. Because of their support, transitioning into the student role will be very easy.