Will you tell the story? Who has experiences to explore not told before?

I have a library story that I have not told here. It’s a good one, I think

When I was at university I got a summer job in London at a big library. It was a very grand old building and wonderful to work in. I had a very junior role. All the books were kept in closed stacks and the patrons would fill out slips of paper to request the books they wanted. I fetched the books off the shelves and reshelved them. One set of shelves was in a remote room and the shelving there was rolling stacks. For those of you unfamiliar with library shelving, rolling stacks are shelving that can move sideways. Therefore you can fit more shelving into a smaller space, as you only need space for one aisle between the shelves. The shelves are moved by a handle on the end of each range. Twirling the handle moves the shelves away from you, creating the space between the shelves.

I was in this area, reshelving some books. I needed to get into the last shelving bay so I happily wound the handle round creating enough space to enter. Hmm, I needed to put a book back on the top shelf which was too high for me to reach. Should I go out and up to the top of the room to fetch the kickstep? Or should I just stand on the deep windowsill that was situated in this last aisle? While I was standing on the windowsill someone came into the room. I froze, terrified that I would get into trouble for standing on the windowsill. I didn’t make a sound. Not even when I heard the familiar sound and the shelf facing me came rolling slowly towards me. I held my breath, pulled in my tummy and waited. The person fetched their book and went out again. I had to lean hard on the shelf to push it forward but only so far until it stopped. The person had left the kickstep in the aisle. I was younger and slimmer than I am now so I managed to squeeze out.

I never told a soul there about my experience.

Oh goodness I overshare on Fluther so there’s not much you haven’t heard. You specifically mentioned near death experiences. I’ve had one, but I’ve already spoken of it here, so I won’t repeat myself. Here’s the story though if you’re interested.)

I guess one thing I haven’t talked about much is my new mentoring role this year.

Just this year I have picked up a new role as a peer mentor through a brand new program created by the office of disability services at my college. Through this program, people who volunteer to be mentors are paired with an incoming freshman who has a disability.

I came into this program with a lot of preconceived notions. I felt that I would excel at this job because I have a disability myself, and I initially struggled a LOT with starting college. My own struggles with my health have required me to seek out almost every resource for help that my college has to offer. I even had to take time off from school in order to heal at one point, and so my undergraduate career has taken 5 years to complete. Basically, I feel that I went through hell and back in order to be a successful and happy college student, and I also feel I have overcome it all very successfully and am in a great position in life now. I am always eager to share what I’ve learned about how to survive and thrive in college even when adversity is present.

My own experiences with disability have certainly been valuable to me at a mentor, but I have also had to learn not to project onto my mentee. My mentee, Troy, faces very different challenges from mine, and has a very different personality type than I do. I originally brought him all the advice that I wish somebody had told me back when I was a freshman – things like “take care of yourself, that is more important than homework” and “just relax, everything will be fine.” But Troy is not an anxious person like I am, and the nature of his disability isn’t such that he’s in danger of becoming very ill or getting hospitalized frequently like I was. His disorder does make it harder for him to learn, however, which is something that my own experiences have not prepared me for.

I do feel that I help Troy even though it is not as easy to do as I thought it might be. I get a lot of enjoyment out of helping others, so it’s a very fulfilling role. It has been a really humbling experience.

I was poor as a kid and was teased and ridiculed at school for it, it would never end, finally did when I dropped out as a teen. To this day I still hate them all, worse is, I’ve lost because they probably all forgot about me a long time ago. But wtv I’m pretty sure I mentioned this before.

@Stinley , sorry about the steps. I usually put them away. I can’t believe you didn’t say anything. (ha ha ha)
@Mariah , what a wonderful story. I am so glad you told us. It sounds very rewarding.
@Symbeline , that sucks. I am sorry you carry that burden. I was poor too. I got teased because all my clothes were homemade. Fortunately, my mom was very good at it.