What Did You Learn In The Dark?

Being blindfolded is always an interesting experience and you never quite feel as vulnerable in anything else in life as much as you do without sight. Going into KiB I thought of many possibilities of what I might be doing while blindfolded, anything from planting trees to walking around picking up trash, but washing and cleaning up recycling bins was a nice surprise. Even if it seems a little tedious, it was actually very telling.

As I was the first one blindfolded, I completely lost my sense of surroundings and it felt like ages to walk over to the sink. I'm a very extroverted person as I was classified as an ESFJ, so it felt nice to actually just listen for once instead of talk. Having that type of personality has given me the chance to head a lot of projects in the past, but it's not necessarily something that I always want to do. Hearing Brad and Michael instruct me to pick up the hose, wash the top, wipe it down, felt just as rewarding!

Having half the group show up during the process made it an even better exercise. The team had to rally together and get involved quick with no questions asked and everyone performed well. There was even a moment where there was another group passing through as we were trying to instruct Nan on what to do, but we literally just paused and waited for them to pass and then went right back to it. Everyone was conscious and aware, which made things go very smooth! We did make the occasional reference that it was tough for Stephanie and I not to say anything when I was told not to do any instructing. I was filling a role as a team player but I definitely had the urge to shot out a little tip or hint and it was tough! I felt most comfortable just instructing the blindfolded team member on what to do because it was what made me feel the most productive and effective to the group. Even in the group discussions we talked about how smoothly it seemed to go and how everyone of us felt a little weird blindfolded but trusted each other enough to just get the job done. When given the task of washing the rest of the cart was telling too, none of us complained, we just went right too it.

It was at that moment when we really were jelling as a team and a unit. We formed an assembly line and had 2 members at each station. Handing the bins off, Washing the bins, and drying off the bins, was the 3 step plan of our system and it didn't take much storming and fell into a great sense of norming as we finished in less than 10 minutes. After getting everything done it felt very rewarding and there was almost a sense of "what's next" in my head as I felt like accomplishing something else that needed to be done. 

I've learned throughout this first half class that I am an extroverted introvert. This assignment helped me see that even with something as simple as listening to instructions when I'm blindfolded. I was comfortable listening to someone and not saying anything because I couldn't see anyway, but once I took the blindfold off and couldn't speak to anyone who was blindfolded I felt very anxious. Thinking that what I could say would offer the best advice for the fastest way possible to accomplish washing the bins was hard to let go of, but at the end of the day we ended up finishing all the tasks with flying colors and every member of the team got to experience every role. I am confident that this group will do an excellent job in assisting KiB in the future!