Thursday, April 1, 2021 (Day 91)
Meditation Music: The Treasure: Aeoliah (7:08) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AF48IIPFRJ0
Question: What does fun mean to you?
Answer: It’s hard to imagine, but we have now completed 3 months of 2021! Where does the time go? It feels like the semester just started a couple of weeks ago – and now, classes end in 4 weeks! Unbelievable! I was told that time goes by faster as you get older – and as I’ve gotten older, I get it. My 50’s seem like a blur right now…and 60 will be here soon enough!
So, what does fun mean for me? Being active is definitely a criteria for fun. Reading a book is fun. Watching a Godzilla and/or monster movie movie is fun (yeah for Kong vs Godzilla – just came out yesterday). Being with Life Design Catalyst peeps is fun. Right now, although I’m not playing great, golf and tennis are fun for me, more fun now because I don’t have expectations (to win) like I have in the past. Just knowing that my efforts are moving me to become the best version of myself (which is unknowable) is a positive. Better today than yesterday, whatever that means for the particular thing that I’m doing. Reading an article or chapter in a book is making me better. Engaging in deep conversation with tribe people is making me better. And being a better me for myself and others is fun; in fact, as I’m writing this, I have this big smile on my face, because this feels to good and so right. The great thing is that I can do these things by myself or with others and still have fun regardless. I hope that the rest of the prompts are this positive – or at least elicit positive feelings inside of me.
So, now that we’ve finished another month, it’s time for reflection on the writing activities from the previous month (March). Here are the monthly reflective questions (and my answers):
- What did I learn about myself this month? I don’t know if I learned anything new about myself, since I don’t really think much about my environment. Most of the stuff I wrote about what stuff that resonated with me a great deal, like the clutter issue and the weather. For the most part, the environment is the environment and if/when it changes, I’ll go with the flow and deal with it.
- Which of the prompts this month were most challenging? Nothing was challenging…in fact, I would almost say that I was bored with the writing prompts this past month. My environment isn’t something that I’m particularly attached to, so writing about it so much got to be tedious. But I kept moving forward, never skipping a beat, getting the writing in every day.
- Which of my answers most surprised me? There were no answers that surprised me this month.
- Based on what I’ve written, one action I want to take over the next month is…cleaning out some of the clutter in the garage. It’s time to get rid of the boxes/totes of old stuff that I have in there. I’m sure there are a few things I want to keep (like the trophies and plaques), but everything else needs to go in the dumpster.
Other Stuff
I’ve noticed that my most recent interests revolve around providing advisors/coaches tools to examine the current state of their work. As I start to see a light at the end of the tunnel, I also know that a lot of institutions will start making decisions regarding their budgets – and losses – due to the pandemic. One area that seems to get cut is student services. Some places believe that they can by without such services, with the hopes that a reduced staff and/or faculty can shoulder the load. Those in student success know that’s not true. However, if you find yourself at a crossroads in your position, here’s an interesting article that might help:
- How to Take the Lead of Your Career (even in Uncertain Times) – https://medium.com/awake-leadership-solutions/how-to-take-the-lead-of-your-career-even-in-uncertain-times-3a33e590d31e
I find it an interesting article because Life Design Catalyst work, and specifically our course “What Could I Do With My Life,” addresses many of the items in this article. If you want to learn more, send me a note at whjohnso@uncg.edu.
The Dream Dean 