The Reverse J Curve

A volunteer had to be a reader and a bit of a hermit. A successful volunteer was an amalgam of contrasts. Paradoxically, volunteer trainees were rigorously tested for their social aptitude and ability to function in a group, when much of the time they would be alone and culturally isolated.Without being steered by a timeclock or an obligation to be productive, it was easy for someone to become rudderless.

Whatever emotional baggage we brought with us would become heavier and along the way everyone would have to discard some things to lighten the load. There wouldn’t be any place for high expectations, prejudices and phobias, but when we made room we'd be able to replace them with insight and experience. 

There was always an overhanging risk that a volunteer drifted into a destructive orbit of introspection, but fortunately the minimalistic, uncluttered life I found in Kolar, far from the background disturbances of the materialistic, modern society I left behind, suited me.

During my Peace Corps training in San Luis Obispo, Lenny the staff psychologist began his one on one conversation with an analogy.

“When you dive into the ocean that is India, you might take a gulp or two of saltwater. Spit it out and keep on swimming”, he said with a smile and added:

“If you become dispirited don’t worry, it’s pretty normal, most volunteers feel that way at some time. It’s okay when you’ve been working in a country a while and aren’t as excited and optimistic as you were in the beginning. You can look at your state of mind as though it were the letter J."

He drew one on the black board, but in inverted form. He called it the Reverse J Curve. Pointing to the top, he said:

“You arrive in India full of energy and enthusiasm but after wrestling with the frustrations of its bureaucracy, your homesickness and health, and perhaps realizing that you are not accomplishing as much as you wanted, your curve will dip downward”.

Tracing the J with his finger he assured me:

“There will be highs and lows but India will change you, as you begin to understand the culture and acclimatize, your curve will start back up again and should level off somewhere in the middle.”

Lenny was right. I came out of the ocean he referred to a different person than I was when I dove in and took his life lesson with me.