Critical Reflection of a Challenging Situation ln Life - Assignment Example

 Critical Reflection Of A Challenging Situation In Life Introduction There are many events that take place in the daily lives of individuals. Depending on the intensity and nature of these events, some of them may remain in the memories of those who are involved for a long time or may just be easily forgotten. There are those events and happening that may also involve close members to an individual to the extent that they bear a great impact on the lives of those around them. These impacts are at times too heavy that they bring with them great lessons in life. This paper will act as a personal reflection for a particular happening, which will be analyze to determine whether the current interpretation of the situation is as a result of the knowledge that is attained after it or whether it is based on some existing theories. Incidence There is one particular incidence that forms an important part of my life since I learnt a number of lessons from it and it made me to make great turn backs with regard to helping myself as well as other people who go through the same situations on a daily basis. It took place when I was working for the Defense Secret Directorate. At that time, out of jealous, one of my colleagues made unfounded and false allegations about me (Gray 2010, p. 79). This cost me my position at the work place and left me depressed to the point that I could no longer work. Owing to so much depression that resulted from the incidence, I also distanced myself from family and friends. At that particular moment, it was so sad that I could not get any form of assistance from the DSD, as well as from the close associates that I so much relied and depended on. In turn, I became isolated. It is only after I read an inspiring book by Jeffery Archer that I started to gain confidence and understand some of the rights that I had on the issues. I worked on my self confidence and was able to work on the knowledge that I had obtained from the book to get another job and offer help to other people who are also going through the same situations (Archer 1979, pp. 1-512). Reflection When I think about this incidence today, it becomes apparent that there are a number of mistakes that I made at the time. These led to the several gaps that existed between that time and the current time. What I did not understand at that moment is that the life of an individual is encompassed in that of the lives of the people around them. This means that the happiness of an individual is as much a relation of the way that they associate with others. However, it is not possible for an individual to deal in the same way with everyone around them. Since that incidence, I have come to realize that the relationships that people have with others are as unique as the number of people who exist on the surface of the other. In this sense, there are those people who would want misery for others. I relate this situation to the colleague who gave false witness about me to the extent that out of jealousy, she lodged a sexual harassment complaint on behalf of her husband against me. It became extreme to the point that I lost my position as a system support in the organization. At this point, although the allegations were later discovered to be made up and lacking in truth., I felt that since the organization did not believe in me and did not make sufficient efforts to perform thorough investigations and determine the truth before taking any efforts, everyone who related with me at different levels also felt the same way about the issue. Currently, when I look back at that incidence, I realize that it was a wrong idea to generalize everybody I related with within a single event. As such, it acts as a great bias because in my thoughts and actions I connected a single happening to the other unrelated associations with other people. Some of the themes that I failed to connect with at the time were those of unique and special relationships, use of rationale thinking and that of isolation or forgiveness in the event of a unique happening. In essence, the main thing is about getting support and the help of others in the case of a difficult situation to avoid having to suffer as an individual (Rigg & Trehan 2004, p. 150). Lessons There are a number of lessons that can be obtained from this incidence. Most of them are related to the way that people should relate with each other as well as how to take control and handle different experiences and circumstances (Reynolds 2008, 233). In particular, I got to understand that it is very possible to inflict pain and misery on people who are not directly responsible for your problems. In this case, the only people whom I should have been bitter with would be the female colleague who came up with false allegations about me. In addition, her husband who supported her claims with the notion that they were false would have also been involved in the reaction I had on the issue. Lastly, DSD, as an organization should have been slightly involved in my feelings since they did not take fair action on the issue. Therefore, the main lessons that I picked from this incident were that individuals are bound to experience different challenges in the course of their lives. However, they can only cope with them in the best ways if they share with others and talk their problems out with those close to them. In case they find these to be difficult, then they can seek the help of those who are experienced or who have the necessary expertise in the different fields. They are the people who are placed in the best positions to offer advice and guidance on how to deal with varied situations in life (Romeo 2014, par. 1-5). The process of reconstruction Through this incident, I have become a better person in the sense that I am now able to help other people who may not be in a position to handle different situations that they face in the right way. This is because, I have realized that most of the people who go into depression or have to go through difficult mental situations do not do so because they do not have people to talk to, but because they are not adequately capable to handle their situations. Some of the things that may lead to this include the lack of awareness of people’s rights and the correct approaches to deal with in life. Having read the Kane and Abel book by Jeffery Archer it gave me a lot of insights. In the same case as that of my female colleague at the organization, it represents the biblical story where Kane was filled with the same kind of jealous to the extent that he killed his own blood brother Abel. The greatest of lessons that I learnt from that book is that challenges have existed in the lives of human beings for a long time. In fact, the various acts of betrayal started around the time that the world was created. The book shows how Kane and Abel, though born on the same day live world apart. While one of them excels and works towards the top, the other inherits easy wealth and creates a tussle with it against Kane unknowingly. It shows that evils can be performed to an individual at any time. Nonetheless, it is usually said that no man is an island. Individuals need to work with others to find their way out of the challenges and problems that they seem to encounter on their daily activities. Both Kane and Abel were able to forgive each other through their children and grandchild (Archer 1979, pp. 1-512). In case the same incident had taken place in my life currently, there are several things that I would have decided to do differently. Some of these are based on the knowledge that I have acquired from my interaction with other people. The others are related to the ideas that I obtained from the different texts that offer advice on various situations. The third source is my current job with the disability employment services (Midgley 2001, 25). At the moment, I also know my rights. I am aware that I am not supposed to be dismissed on grounds of depression especially when the causes of the disability have been found to be unfounded. Moreover, I have gained the knowledge that in case of allegations against you, it is appropriate to seek the necessary support to defend. However, judgment on such an issue should not be taken too immensely to the extent that it affects the relationship with those who are not involved in the case. This means that although at that time I isolated myself from my other colleagues and family, I would have only dealt with those who were directly concerned (Schon 2003, p. 47). Since I am also highly aware of the need to have a strong connection with the society, at the moment, I would have decided to interact more with the people in my organization as well as my friends and family members. I would have chosen a number of close members to share my predicament with and seek advice on how to go about the surrounding issues. Although these steps would have not helped me to reach my current position where I help others, they would have prevented a lot of harm that I did to myself, employer and those close to me (Northen & Kurland 2001, p. 191). Conclusion There are many experiences that people go through on a daily basis. How individuals handle them depends on a broad number of elements. They may vary from the amount of knowledge they possess and majorly the kind of support that they receive while going about their duties. The good thing is that, although people may lack the sufficient knowledge regarding these issues, at times the situations themselves become learning points in the process of life. As such, it is the way that individuals perceive these lessons that will determine how they handle other related incidences in the future. Bibliography Archer, Jeffery, 1979. Kane and Abel. UK: Hodder & Stoughton. Gray, M., 2010. Theories of social work practice. In Nicholas, L., Rautenbach, J., & Maistry, M. (ed). Introduction to Social Work. Cape Town: Juta; pp. 75-98. Midgley, James, 2001. Issues in International Social Work: Resolving Critical Debates in the Profession. Journal of Social Work, April vol. 1 (1): 21-35. Northen, H., & Kurland, Roselle, 2001. Social work with groups. New York: Columbia University Press: p. 191. Reynolds, M., 2008. ‘Reflection and critical reflection in management learning’. Management Learning, Vol. 29(2) pp. 183-200. Rigg, C., & Trehan, K., 2004. “Reflections on Working with Critical Action Learning”. Action Learning: Research & Practice 1(2) 149 – 165. Romeo, Lyn, 2014. The role of the social worker in adult mental health services. The college of social work. Retrieved 27 March, 2015 from http://www.tcsw.org.uk/uploadedFiles/TheCollege/Policy/MH%20Launch%20Docume %20April%202014.pdf Schön, D., 2003. The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action. New York: Basic Books. Read More