This time of year marks the halfway point in my term of service, and to commemorate that we were given letters that we wrote to ourselves during orientation. I was pretty skeptical about the whole activity, mostly because it reminded me of things like new years resolutions where you set goals for yourself that you are inevitably going to struggle to keep up with. Having those goals and hopes in writing, I figured, would only make me feel worse if they weren't followed through on. In some ways, that is true, but in other ways, this letter has served as a good reminder of the things I find important. If it isn't abundantly clear, I really hate January, and I have a really difficult time during this month to stay motivated, optimistic, or productive. I'm going to try to use these excerpts from my letter to get myself back on my feet and start February feeling strong, confident, and empowered.
"Dear Self,
The whole point of this letter is to capture the optimism and energy of orientation to be looked at in 6 months- probably when we're heading towards burn out. To be honest, I'm not really feeling the positivity at the moment, so I'm sorry if this might not be the type of letter you might want or need right now.
Despite my kind of "meh" mood at the moment, I have a lot to be proud of. I've gotten good at articulating what I want and going for it. I've done quite a few things in the last couple of weeks that have involved making myself quite vulturable- and I've made it through each one mostly unscathed. I hope that when I read this in the future, I am still doing these things because I really think it helps me be my authentic self as much as possible.
I hope I've made a name for myself in this organization. I know that I have a lot of insight and dedication to give and I am ready to really show that to everyone I serve with.
I hope you still love your job. I hope you are more firm with your students and that they are succeeding because of that. I hope that team Harding still takes time out of the day to have fun, and that despite everything, you're still not ready to leave on friday afternoons. Mostly, I hope you feel empowered, trusted, and loved in every area of your life, and if you don't, that you are working to change it.
Hang in there,
Abigail"
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Be the spark, fuel the fire
Last week we had a really cool experience in session and Victoria and I composed this story to share with all of our coworkers as a dose of winter time inspiration (I can use all of the winter time inspiration I can get- bring me spring now!). My supervisor, Ben, suggested I post this on my blog, which I thought was a good idea since 1. I haven't blogged since the middle of November, and 2. I tend to take a more critical approach in my blog, so it could be nice to throw some fully positive posts in there sometimes.
Before I share the story, I want to dedicate it to my supervisor, Ben, who is in his final weeks in his current position. He switching over to the development side of the organization I work with, which is absolutely awesome, but means he cannot be my supervisor anymore!
To Ben, who knew long before we ever could about the flames our sparks could cause and who supported and believed in us the entire way!
In my opinion, January is terrible. It’s cold, it’s dark, the holidays are over, and when I got up this morning the wind chill was -25. Sometimes, in these conditions, it’s hard to stay motivated or to remember why we leave the warmth of our beds in the morning.
Today, one student reminded us.
By the end of session, we had three students left (let’s just say the students are lacking some motivation too). We decided to show them the video that was made about our organization as part of an award we received in the fall. At the end of the showing, we were all in tears. The students started to reflect on the movie and then the program itself.
Victoria’s student, Kee, sat at his desk clearly deep in thought. Nearly always in his NJROTC uniform, Kee is incredibly polite, loyal, kind, and surprisingly insightful. For most of the year, his case manager told him that he would have to go to a 2-year school because his baseline ACT score was a 9 and he has a diagnosed learning disability. The day Kee got accepted to his first school was one for the memory books.
Finally ready to share his thoughts, Kee started to talk about the impact of our program. He told us that this program changes everyone’s lives, inside and out. His friends can see what he has accomplished and are inspired to make their lives better too. He thanked us for our hard work, and we told him that we couldn’t do what we do without motivated and promising students like him. His response to this was a powerful analogy. He compared himself and the other students in our program to fires and us, their coaches, to the gas that keeps the flame going. Flames can sometimes get really small, he said, and without something to keep them going, they can burn out.
Hopefully this can serve as a reminder to all of us that the work/service that we do is making a big difference. In these cold months, stay motivated and keep fueling the fire!
Before I share the story, I want to dedicate it to my supervisor, Ben, who is in his final weeks in his current position. He switching over to the development side of the organization I work with, which is absolutely awesome, but means he cannot be my supervisor anymore!
To Ben, who knew long before we ever could about the flames our sparks could cause and who supported and believed in us the entire way!
In my opinion, January is terrible. It’s cold, it’s dark, the holidays are over, and when I got up this morning the wind chill was -25. Sometimes, in these conditions, it’s hard to stay motivated or to remember why we leave the warmth of our beds in the morning.
Today, one student reminded us.
By the end of session, we had three students left (let’s just say the students are lacking some motivation too). We decided to show them the video that was made about our organization as part of an award we received in the fall. At the end of the showing, we were all in tears. The students started to reflect on the movie and then the program itself.
Victoria’s student, Kee, sat at his desk clearly deep in thought. Nearly always in his NJROTC uniform, Kee is incredibly polite, loyal, kind, and surprisingly insightful. For most of the year, his case manager told him that he would have to go to a 2-year school because his baseline ACT score was a 9 and he has a diagnosed learning disability. The day Kee got accepted to his first school was one for the memory books.
Finally ready to share his thoughts, Kee started to talk about the impact of our program. He told us that this program changes everyone’s lives, inside and out. His friends can see what he has accomplished and are inspired to make their lives better too. He thanked us for our hard work, and we told him that we couldn’t do what we do without motivated and promising students like him. His response to this was a powerful analogy. He compared himself and the other students in our program to fires and us, their coaches, to the gas that keeps the flame going. Flames can sometimes get really small, he said, and without something to keep them going, they can burn out.
Hopefully this can serve as a reminder to all of us that the work/service that we do is making a big difference. In these cold months, stay motivated and keep fueling the fire!
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