Hi, my name is Robin2go, and it’s been 63 days since my last confession. Errr, blog post.
Seriously.
This is has been a tricky couple of months for me but, even still, I’m not sure where the time has gone. While I’ve tried to make blogging a priority, it seems like things have just gotten away from me. So let’s take stock, shall we? In the 63 days I’ve been absent from the blogosphere, I have:
- traveled to Austin to present at ELI
- mourned and buried a friend
- changed reporting lines and project lineups
- started BodyPump at a local gym
- observed four “flipped” classrooms
- present a Risk Management Program for online safety to Delta Zeta
- agree to present at the 2012 .eduGuru Summit
- help teach blogs setup training for a NUTR course
- taken my couch apart to locate a lost cellphone
- stopped BodyPump at a local gym
- co-created/co-executed engagement activities for the TLT Symposium
- chaired Rogue Team for TLT Symposium
- replaced the engine in my Jeep Liberty
- worked on gaming team to create gamelike components for TLT Symposium
- spent TEN CONCURRENT DAYS at home, sick
- helped create and run a tour of innovative learning spaces at Penn State
- realized just how overweight and out of shape I’ve become
- arranged/attended/sweated the Symposium for Teaching and Learning with Technology
- helped set up social media and analytics for a conference hosted by the Stuckeman School
- gone on six instructional design/technology consultations
- been added to a university-wide technology implementation team
- dropped the ball on my engagement contributions to another team
- stopped playing Foursquare, perhaps permanently
- seen one project group shut down permanently, but lessons learned
- continued to co-chair the Web 2012 Conference at Penn State
- updated my resume (not a small feat)
- applied for a job as a Technologist (what I currently do, but different classification)
- applied for another job as a Technologist/Project Manager
- mourned and buried another friend
- been overwhelmed by an inbox with 668 (666+2) unread messages
- watched my son enlist in the United States Army
- gotten my hair cut, twice
Every single one of these items have impacted my world, my workload, my frame of mind, and my frame of reference. Care to challenge that statement? Go ahead. It won’t take much to prove you wrong.
I have only a few things to say to this. First, that’s a lot of stuff that I can actually point to, when I go back and actually look at my calendar. I guess I really have been busy, and shouldn’t feel like I’ve done so little. I need to learn that lesson. Soon.
Second, there’s a fair number of personal items on that list that have rocked my world. Those things really do have an impact on everything else that I handle and, in the end, probably make me a better person because if nothing else, I can empathize with others going through these same things. That’s good to know in the grand scheme of things, even if it doesn’t make going through them any easier. But that’s a different post for a different day.
Third, I need to fit my blogging in better. That’s for several parts of my life, but it’s apparent to me that I need to blog. Not just professionally, but personally. I think that’s good to know about myself, because it fills a need that I forget about.
Fourth, I am overwhelmed. Being out sick (and I mean, really sick) for over a week is not conducive to staying sane or on top of things. But I really REALLY need to learn when to ask for help. Let’s all pray I learn that lesson soon, too.
So I am declaring bankruptcy on all of this *waves hands around madly* that is hanging over my head like a black clouded guillotine. Lots of things have happened, and the world goes on. I am wiping the slate clean as of now. If you’ve sent me an important email and I’ve not responded, send it again. I should be able to find it now. I’m looking forward, not backward, and making a fresh start. Thanks in advance for going with me on this–because I need it and frankly, if you need me, then I need this from you. And maybe we can all learn a lesson from stopping, taking stock, and moving on. Paralysis by analysis is just not effective.
Right?
Great. Then let’s get moving! I’ve got places to go, things to do, and people to dazzle.
Heavy stuff here. I’m used to you making me laugh ;). Appreciate your candor. We have or are here if we’re honest with ourselves. Life tends to speed up on us.
“I need to fit my blogging in better. That’s for several parts of my life, but it’s apparent to me that I need to blog. Not just professionally, but personally. I think that’s good to know about myself, because it fills a need that I forget about.”
I’m right there with you on this one. Finding myself going to my blog A LOT, mostly for me. Great way to find myself, reorient, and move forward.
All the best as you recenter.
-Ravi
Ravi, thanks for your encouragement. You know what’s such a big help? Actually seeing that someone has read and responded to something I’ve written. I know it might not seem like much–and I’m guilty of doing it too–but it’s so easy to read a blog post, nod your head and say, “yeah, right on” and move on without that extra step of putting your thought in a reply so that it’s clear to the writer someone else out there knows where you’re coming from. So thank you for that. Truth be told, I didn’t mean for it to be a heavy blog post; but there’s probably a ton of truth to that mental image: I feel a lot lighter now that I’ve listed it all out there. When I think about it, that’s a LOT of baggage to be carrying around. Flogging myself for the balls I’ve dropped (or could have juggled better) does no one any good. So, I’m going to switch gears, be proactive, and choose not to do it anymore.
Hopefully, I’m a bit more ahead of the game now.
“Actually seeing that someone has read and responded to something I’ve written. I know it might not seem like much–and I’m guilty of doing it too–but it’s so easy to read a blog post, nod your head and say, “yeah, right on” and move on without that extra step of putting your thought in a reply so that it’s clear to the writer someone else out there knows where you’re coming from.”
The pace of social media and information in general makes it such that it’s such a natural reaction to just move on.
But if I don’t take the time to really think about something and determine what I think or want to be, I don’t grow.
I appreciate you putting yourself out there because I have been struggling with the same issues: http://www.personal.psu.edu/rep129/blogs/for_the_record/2012/04/staying-connected.html.
For the record, the term “hitting the reset” button is so 2000’s. The new term is “Etch a Sketch”. I mean, it is once you explain to anyone under the age of 25 what an Etch a Sketch is.
I’m totally stealing that RSS feed idea. It makes perfect sense, and lessens that guilt about what I “should” be reading. Thank you for all of it! You rawk.
There’s gotta be an app for that, right? 🙂
Thanks for retuning to your blog. I am reading/responding while putting in time on a stationary bike. Felt like you were on the next bike over and I got to spend a few with you which I haven’t done enough lately. Let’s do it again soon! Mwah!
Thanks for retuning to your blog. I am reading/responding while putting in time on a stationary bike. Felt like you were on the next bike over and I got to spend a few with you which I haven’t done enough lately. Let’s do it again soon! Mwah!
hmmm…maybe I lost my post??
ANYWAY…i said Ravi was a suckup. LOL. And he is…MR.BLOGGER. And then I said something about how incredible you are. About how we bust our butt everyday to get through it. You bust it hard. Thanks for sharing the struggle…we butt our heads up to it every day!
Trish, that’s another thing that’s happened over the last two months: I’ve not had the opportunity to be at knit night, and normally that is a key piece of my life. It’s time with my girls as we reconnect, and without that I’m just doing the hamster in the hamster wheel imitation. Being with friends and relaxing is important; it’s something that is good for me. I miss that, and I miss you. (Also, it would do me a lot of good to be there on the bike next to you, too!)
Melissa, thanks for reconstructing your reply! I’m going to let the comment about Ravi slide 😉 but I do think it’s interesting how this post has resonated with a lot of people. When I originally wrote it I was just trying to get a handle on why I felt like the firehouse was directed at me full force; what I’ve discovered is that there are an awful lot of us feeling this same way. We *are* busting our butts to get through it every day, and I think we need to acknowledge what it means we need to do to make that happen–emotionally, mentally, and physically. The next step for me is to put the balance back into my life; and yes, that includes BodyPump, whether it’s at 5:45AM or 5:30PM. Thanks for the kind words of encouragement, too. It really means a lot.