blocks to interpreting

So I'm beginning to realize I have some things that block effective interpreting. I'm not positive about exactly what those things are, but now that I know they are there, I hope I can figure it out so it can be corrected. I struggle to understand fingerspelling or rapid signing, especially if I have to interpret simultaneously. (That means I start talking as soon as I receive a complete thought and the signer continues to sign while I'm talking.) I tend to zone out at a certain point and even though I'm still looking at the signer, I'm not comprehending their signs. I think it's partially a processing thing and that my mind is concentrating on so many different aspects that it just can't take in any more signs. So, I need to exercise my brain and train it to be able to do more. Thankfully the mentors here have suggested some good exercises to help with that. I will forever remember my last semester when Anna related it to driving a stick shift car.....you know how awkward it is at first and how there's so much to remember and concentrate on that it's really difficult to do. After a while though it becomes natural and you don't have to think about it as much.

Another issue I think that blocks effective interpreting is my own intrapersonal thoughts and feelings. Sometimes it's as simple as a concern over doing well or knowing that something I struggle with is going to show up. I do feel pressure to become certified in the next two years although my attitude with the test in September is to use it as a learning experience. If I pass, good! If I don't, then I'll know more about it next time. But there is also this part of me that thinks I should pass after all the time here in Utah and that the program developers are expecting me to. If I don't, then I'm messing up their statistics. Now that's all my thoughts. No one has said that. I am a perfectionist. I think I should be able to do certain things and then even though I don't consciously think about it, I think it still bothers me and then effects my interpreting. I'm not quite sure how to get over that since it's not conscious! So the conscious stuff, I can deal with but the unconscious stuff is going to take some thought! (hee hee!)

So all that to explain some of my struggles here and to ask you to pray that I would be able to not pressure myself and to find strategies and work them to help overcome some of my physical challenges with interpreting.