Turned loose in the law office

Today was an interesting day for me when I volunteered at Colorado Legal Services (CLS). The person I usually help called in sick. Her assistant, however, left me with some stuff to do which was sort and file paperwork as well as add a final sheet to some files. I would partially fill out this final sheet.

Normally I work pretty closely with the CLS staff. She doesn't check every single thing I do, but I usually do my work in her office. Since she was away, I did a lot of it on my own. At first I was nervous about doing it by myself, but I had to remind myself that I knew what I was doing because I had done it before. Her presence had been like a safety-net. However, I realized that I really did understand more of the case closing and case categorization processes than I thought I did because I was really forced to think it through myself.
In the paralegal world, the more experience a paralegal has, the less 'hand holding' the attorney does. Being able to work with minimal supervision is the mark of a good paralegal. The fact that I sort of had that happen suddenly, and the fact that I think I did everything I was supposed to gave me confidence that I will be able to do a good job as a paralegal :)

Sometimes I doubt myself because of my disabilities or because other people doubt me, but when I have accomplishments like this, those help boost my confidence :)