WeVerb Day 3 - Learn

WeVerb Day 3 - Learn

What lesson did you learn in 2011 from “The School of Life” rather than a classroom?

There are definitely a few things I've learned, and I think I've realized one in the past few weeks.

I need to stop explaining myself to other people. I learned that I have to find a way to tell others that my life is my life. I'm living it for me and under my terms, and I don't need to explain it to you. I feel like there were way too many instances where I was put in a position of people expecting me to explain my decisions or lack of decisions on a variety of issues. I can't keep doing that if I want to keep my sanity.

WeVerb Day 2 - Listen

Here's the link to WeVerb and what it's about in case I didn't include it in my last post.

Day 2 - Listen

What song did you listen to in 2011 to completely change your mood? Think about ways you can you add more music to your life in 2012. I didn't listen to as much music as I should or could have this year. I'm not really into most popular music right now. I guess I'll write about two VERY different songs. "Trust Me" by Richard Smallwood & Vision He's a fairly well-known gospel artist. It's not a very complicated song, but the words are essentially God/The Universe/Allah/Vishnu telling us to trust that He/She/It has got our backs. It's a simple message that I've needed this year many times. While I'm not a huge fan, I really do like Katy Perry's Firework. I kinda felt like she was speaking to me in this one. :)

I know, I know. This is super commercial and pop at that. I also LOVE Beyonce's "Run the World," which is one of the highlights on my running mix.

May I just say that I liked Adele before everyone got on the bandwagon? For gems from her first album, which is on heavy rotation on my Iphone, check out "Hometown Glory" and "Make You Feel My Love."

I want to add more LIVE music to my life in 2012. I live in a great music city. I shouldn't waste it.

Have any songs inspired you this year?

WeVerb Day 1 - Word

Hey there!!! I'm out there! I haven't abandoned this blog. I think I am going to try to write more next year. I keep saying that, don't I? I'll be honest about why I don't write here more. It's hard. It's hard to be struggling and write about it especially when my life is soo good. Great marriage (at least I think so), surrounded by wonderful creature comforts, solid family and only minor health issues. What more could I need?

Anyway, I decided to participate in WeVerb 11. It's a collective blogger initiative where I will be reflecting on my year each day. Let's hope I can keep up with this AND my close out my main blog with a bang.

Here's Day 1's prompt:

Choose one word. Encapsulate the year 2011 in one word. Explain why. Imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2012 for you? My word would be: STASIS - a state of stability, in which all forces are equal, therefore they cancel each other out. This really is my year in one word. I think this has to be. Read what I just read above. I am so grateful for my life right now. Financially we're doing well as a family. Jim's, my husband (not his real name) career is doing really well. I see my friends excelling and moving forward with their lives personally and professionally. There have been marriages, births, new jobs, big breakthroughs and promotions for the people around me. Yet, here I am in many respects having only inched forward this year. I have made very little, if any, movement towards building my new professional self. I've worked on quite a few things including consulting, my secret project and exploring entrepreneurship. I feel like despite all of the awful things happening in the world at large, I've got it pretty good even if my life isn't what I'd like it to be. So, I guess everything just cancels itself out. The good isn't outweighing the bad and vice versa. I'm just here. :) "Here" ain't so bad.

For 2012, I'd like my word to be: propulsion

I hope 2012 is about moving forward. Period.

I Needed this This Morning/Thank you, Steve Jobs

Truly inspirational. Say what you want about Apple products, Steve Jobs loved what he did. His passion and vision were really evident in everything that he spearheaded for Apple. His commencement speech at Stanford in the video below is really food for thought.

Thanks, Steve Jobs. RIP.

Do You Want to Work?

Do you see the title of this post? Someone that I have known for a long time asked me this this weekend.

What I want to understand is what is it about me that suggests that I don't want to work? I have to somehow forgive this woman. She has only had very prestigious jobs that she has floated from one to the next. Part of me thinks that she thinks that I have not gotten where I like would like to be because I simply don't want to work. There are so many ways that I find that question insulting that I don't even know where to begin.

One of the things I've learned is that people who have never struggled with career issues just have no idea about what it's like for those of us who do.

I really did want to reach across the table and throttle this woman. Sometimes we have to throttle the ones we love? :)

I do want to work just in case you're wondering.

Passion

It's been months. I know...some thought about passion in the vlog below.

What do you think? How do you define passion?

Lately I've Been Feeling Like Lloyd Dobler

I love this scene from Say Anything.

I definitely know what I DON'T want to do. I agree with Lloyd that I don't want to sell anything though. :)

What's hard is that right now I really have no idea what to do. Yes, I just wrote that. My consulting gig is at a crossroads. Do I work more for next to nothing? Do I want to do more for an entity that I am not sure that I want to be in the long term?

I've added something new to my life, which is taking a continuing ed class in the hopes that it will push me further into what I'd like to do.

Networking sadly still is not very fun, but I have started to ramp up again.

Part of me is trying to not get totally done. What was once slight sadness is turning into me being a tad incredulous. If I can't get a job (not like I am a super star or anything), then I can only imagine what others will less skills, experience or education are dealing with right now. I wonder sometimes if it's me or the economy or something completely different.

Anyway, I am still trudging along. I guess my version of Lloyd's kickboxing is blogging. :)