This week at my organization, we completed the task/chore known as "review and planning session." We talk strategy and the all important budget. We talk about what we've done over the past year, the tasks we've completed, and what we'd like to focus on over the next year. As part of this, we each brought a few paragraphs on lessons learned over 2011. I drank a lot of coffee before I wrote mine. I like mine! The length is ideal for a short blog post. Therefore...here are a few lessons learned over 2011.
An Essay on Words
For Review and Planning December 2011
The word which defines 2011 is "confusion." Perhaps "inadequacy" is a close second. I officially started work as a partner adviser on 2 January 2011. Since then, I've experienced a barrage of challenges and confusion in both partner and MCC work; deciphering roles, expectations, limitations and the constant changing of roles, expectations and limitations. We rush to meet deadlines to find they are artificial dates. We painfully debate which fork in the road to take, when they both arrive at the same destination. We struggle to communicate simple tasks. We battled irrelevance. Such is life. Such is life in Cambodia. Such is life when you embrace flexibility, and wait attentively for life to teach you. Last December, I choose "patience" as the virtue to define this year personally. I don't know if I've learned much about patience but I've had the opportunity to practice it.
As I pass 14 months in Cambodia, observations on country-specific challenges to peacebuilding revealed a new word. So much of what occurs here is based on this word, "fear." I have seen the reality of being caught in the paralyzing grip of deep cultural fears. I have faced the reality of becoming fearful, and seen how we can imprison ourselves to bondage of our own making, in paranoia both real and perceived. I've examined fears affecting my work in Cambodia. I fear inadequacy, that I’ll fail to consider cultural factors, that I’ll fail to listen, that I’ll fail to lead by example... And as such, fear that this word will define me, has become an incentive to consider motivations, and how to live a fear-free life.
I've not choose a word for this coming year. The overall word I wish I define my life is "joy." I like to think I will see more in the coming year now that my feet are established and relationships are developed. Our colleague someone once mentioned to me that a good educator will set their teaching curriculum just outside their own knowledge base, to inspire themselves to learn outside what they already know. I find myself resonating with this idea. I've considered how this require patience, freedom from fear, a confrontation with inadequacy, a commitment to joy. I don't know how to sum that up in a word, but if I could, that would be the word for 2012.
For Review and Planning December 2011
The word which defines 2011 is "confusion." Perhaps "inadequacy" is a close second. I officially started work as a partner adviser on 2 January 2011. Since then, I've experienced a barrage of challenges and confusion in both partner and MCC work; deciphering roles, expectations, limitations and the constant changing of roles, expectations and limitations. We rush to meet deadlines to find they are artificial dates. We painfully debate which fork in the road to take, when they both arrive at the same destination. We struggle to communicate simple tasks. We battled irrelevance. Such is life. Such is life in Cambodia. Such is life when you embrace flexibility, and wait attentively for life to teach you. Last December, I choose "patience" as the virtue to define this year personally. I don't know if I've learned much about patience but I've had the opportunity to practice it.
As I pass 14 months in Cambodia, observations on country-specific challenges to peacebuilding revealed a new word. So much of what occurs here is based on this word, "fear." I have seen the reality of being caught in the paralyzing grip of deep cultural fears. I have faced the reality of becoming fearful, and seen how we can imprison ourselves to bondage of our own making, in paranoia both real and perceived. I've examined fears affecting my work in Cambodia. I fear inadequacy, that I’ll fail to consider cultural factors, that I’ll fail to listen, that I’ll fail to lead by example... And as such, fear that this word will define me, has become an incentive to consider motivations, and how to live a fear-free life.
I've not choose a word for this coming year. The overall word I wish I define my life is "joy." I like to think I will see more in the coming year now that my feet are established and relationships are developed. Our colleague someone once mentioned to me that a good educator will set their teaching curriculum just outside their own knowledge base, to inspire themselves to learn outside what they already know. I find myself resonating with this idea. I've considered how this require patience, freedom from fear, a confrontation with inadequacy, a commitment to joy. I don't know how to sum that up in a word, but if I could, that would be the word for 2012.
No comments:
Post a Comment