I'm getting the opportunity to learn lots about myself lately. [s]Whee! Fun![/sarcasm]
Seriously though, while not fun, it is absolutely necessary.
One of the more palatable (to me) things I'm learning is that I get a lot of comfort out of helping other people. Whether it validates my existence or something else (insert therapy psychobabble here), I don't know. I just know that it makes me feel good to help. And I really could care less if they know it was me. Anonymous helping or not, I enjoy it.
One of the ways I figured this out (there have been many "hello? Are you observing yourself right now?" moments lately, this is just one) is that I started volunteering more with an organization called Women in Design. At first it was in self-interest, to widen my network of contacts in my field, but I found that taking on tasks to help those who are volunteering in addition to working full time really made me feel good and useful and worth Something to Someone. Working towards a goal with a group feels different from working towards personal goals.
And I obviously miss working.
2 comments:
You know Anne, I've been sitting here in MD secretly admiring you for you persistence in resume/business card design & sending, and your willingness to look for opportunities to network, etc. It just doesn't seem like my SoMD community is really open to that sort of thing, but maybe it's that I'm too timid to go out there and go looking for it.
I think its good to have moments in life where you can sit back and go, "Oh yeah, that's me!" I've been doing it lately too, and have discovered that while I love good design (print/graphic design, mostly), I hate actually designing it. I like being the go-between for the client and the designer, and I love working with the designer as sort of a sounding board and idea-comer-upper-wither (but not to actually draw or place text or pick out colors).
I've known that I have Perfectionist tendencies, but I'm realizing lately that those lead me to not want to start things that I don't think I'll be good at. So, I'm trying to work at TRYING and ATTEMPTING things -- even dumb things like a different kind of baked good or reserving my own rental car for non-work travel.
Which, incidentally, I did today. See you in six days!!!! (Oh, and I need directions from the airport -- should I GoogleMap it or can you provide better?)
The perfectionist thing (or more accurately the fear of failure thing) held me back for a long time. Taking a chance and succeeding feels awesome. I will, on the other hand, admit that taking a chance and failing SUCKS. Other people are usually impressed, but it takes some work to not feel like a failure. It's worth doing though, I promise.
I've emailed you directions.
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