National Blog Posting Month – January 2013 – Energy
Prompt – From where do you draw your energy?
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Or perhaps “Whence do you draw such energy?”
So where does it come from, all this jumpy-aroundedness? Exercise helps. Eating well. And doing what I like.
It seems though, that I mostly only have energy when the Sun is up. Apparently, I’m solar powered. In the winter, I can’t get anything finished, because my day is seemingly only eight hours long. But in the summer, I whiz-bang through so much stuff I astound myself.
There have been times in my life when I’ve put up full-spectrum lights so that I can work well into the evenings. This is how I survived my graduate school days. I’m beginning to think I need to do that again. My to-do list for these next two weeks is horrifying and I don’t know how I’ll get anything done without being able to work after my son’s bed time.
Energy is such a fleeting substance. Though I know I’m operating at a low-energy status right now because it is winter and cold, were it not for exercise and being employed at something I enjoy, I know I would be complete toast. So I’ll slog through the next couple of months, waiting for the days to extend in length and for my energy to return.
National Blog Posting Month – December 2012 – Work
Prompt – How do you celebrate your accomplishments?
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Celebrating accomplishments is a challenge. Perhaps it’s the constant, nagging suspicion that what I’ve done isn’t really all that good. That I’ve really done nothing more than fool the masses. Maybe it’s because, given that I’m a scientist, that every completed task is little more than a gateway to the next thing. I mean, finishing something really means that I’ve just suddenly got a whole bunch more work to do! It never ends!
At best, I celebrate accomplishing something by going home and chilling. I’ll drink an adult beverage and *gasp* watch a movie. Or better yet, I’ll go to bed after having shut off all the alarms for the following morning, thereby giving myself permission to sleep a little later.
Yeah, it’s possible I’m doing this wrong. Maybe that’s why I always feel a little stressed out. There’s always something that needs to be done. I can always come up with something I ought to be doing. So accomplishing something just means that now I have time to do the other things that I’ve been putting off. Maybe I ought to give myself a break.
Well, today marks the last day of 2012. Maybe next year I’ll go ahead and give myself that break. I deserve it, right. Perhaps I should sit down and list the things that I accomplished this year. I’ll bet it’s a long list. I wrote a book. Oh heck! I wrote two books! Went to the Arctic. Got in shape. Started learning swordsmanship. Managed to collect a bit of a following on my blog here (hi everyone!). Ooh! And two papers published (-ish)! That’s an improvement over zero papers from last year!
Yeah, I’m getting somewhere. I deserve a vacation. I think I’ll do that. Heh. Well, eventually anyway!
In high school I was a runner. That’s how I identified myself. They were formative years for me, when I learned a great deal about stick-to-it-ive-ness. I no longer run competitively (injuries took me out), but I still lean on the lessons learned in high school when I’m faced with difficult times.
High School me, running my legs off!
My cross-country coach was Ron Bish. He was an amazing guy. He had a business job, and would come to practices more often than not in a business suit and running shoes. On days of home meets, he would be seen in this attire setting out the cones along the course. Every race he would scream himself hoarse. He was always there. Always the voice of determination.
He died a little over a week ago. Wow. Am I so old? Was he? I reflected on all the things he ever said to us. I refer to them to this day.
Get out and exercise “…while the competition is home by the fire.” Every rainy day he would say this to us. Yes, our foes would be home staying warm and dry and we’d be out doing intervals. I remember one such day when we went out for a quick three-miler in the pouring rain. The lightning was pink, and despite the fact that we were all soaked, everyone’s hair was standing up. (In retrospect, we really shouldn’t have been out there that day, for safety reasons.) To this day, when I find myself in a situation where I have a legitimate excuse to not do something, I remember this, drag myself up, and get started. Because the competition is home by the fire.
“Get mad!” This Coach Bish reserved for me. He knew this was how to reach me. Others needed pep talks and encouragement. I needed to be mad. “Don’t let her beat you!” he’d say. The starting line of each race started the same. He’d single me out. “Get mad, Penny.” And I would. I couldn’t let that made-up, perfume-wearing girl outrun me! I’d get mad, and I’d run as fast as I possibly could. No other coach that I have ever had has been able to make that connection with me. They have always tried the gentle encouragement method. Fact is, I have to be furious to get the job done. These days, I find that I am most productive when I’m angry. My best work is done when I feel like I have something to prove. But now, the difference is that I’m competing against myself. I have to show myself that I can do what must be done. My own complacency is what makes me mad. Once I’m mad, work starts to happen.
I don’t run competitively anymore, though in the last year I have finally been able to run again, after a ten-year hiatus. Every step I take reminds me of my high school cross-country days. I still work out almost every day. And on those days when I really don’t want to exercise, I remember Ron. Get mad, Penny. Don’t sit there by the fire.
National Blog Posting Month – December 2012 – Work
Prompt – How far would you travel daily for a job you love?
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Since I really like my current job, let’s examine how far I travel each day to get to it, shall we?
The drive is approximately 35 miles one-way, according to my car’s trip odometer. That means 70 miles round-trip each day, 350 miles a week. Happily, the drive itself tends to take less than 45 minutes, unless there’s heavy traffic or lots of snow. Some folk’s commutes take that long and they only have to go two miles!
It’s worth it because I also really like the house we live in: an 1830’s colonial farm house on two acres. It’s huge and has space for all our books.
Yup, I have a job I like and a home I like, and it only costs me 350 miles a week.
It’s Christmas Eve. I’ve come down with a cold and am basically miserable. I don’t feel much like celebrating anything as it is.
On Friday night into Saturday morning, we had a windy storm blow through. It knocked a tree into the powerlines across the street from our house. I remember sipping my coffee and wondering why there were firetrucks on the street. Then I saw it:
A tree leaning on the power lines in front of our house. The tree was burning, as evidenced by all the smoke. This is just before massive fireballs and breaking wires!
Very soon after I took this photo (from my front window, mind you), the thing went up in a huge fireball. Well, actually three fireballs, until the lines broke. Then we left to camp at some friends’ house to wait for the electric to come back on.
I’m grateful for our firemen who were there that morning. I have to say that. It seemed trivial at the time, but I feel it now, very strongly. I thanked a firefighter as we left, just from basic respect for doing what he most likely considers ‘just his job.’ I was glad he was there. I knew our home would be fine.
This morning, this was on the local news:
Something is wrong with this headline.
How could this be? Firefighters doing nothing more than what they consider their job, shot and killed in the line of duty. Two more in the hospital. And Webster is only two towns over! This is in my back yard!
Gunman shoots at least four firefighters, at least two dead, as they arrive to put out a house fire in Webster, NY gothamist.com/2012/12/24/two…
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsWhat is wrong with our society? How can this happen? Why did someone feel that they needed to shoot at our protectors?
<rant>
This is my rant. This is my opinion. I know that this is a more complicated problem than what I present here, but as this falls on the heels of the CT shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, and all the other obscene murders that have happened of late, I submit this.
Our society is sick. It is sick because we have decided that it is more important that everyone should get a prize just for trying, so that they feel good about themselves. Fundamentally, it’s great to encourage people to be happy in their own skin, but we’ve done a disservice by always providing prizes for participation and always trying to make sure ‘everyone wins.’
In the real world, not everyone wins. People fail. Things go wrong. People leave the school systems feeling good because they’ve always been given positive reinforcement after they falter, then when real failure comes (can’t find a job, lose your job, can’t afford the car you want), they don’t know how to cope. We don’t teach people how to accept failure and move on, because we protect our children from failure. So when real life happens, complete with failure, they go on a rampage.
Most people do figure out the difference between real-life and the A-for-effort they always got in school, and learn how to deal with failure. Yet still, most people are left with a sense of entitlement. “I deserve that fancy car!” It doesn’t help that most advertizing plays on this, telling people that they deserve the best. Then folks go out, spend money they don’t have, and have problems. They fail. And then…
Our society is sick. We are not entitled to things just because we put in a little effort, or have lived X-amount of years. And failure is a part of life that we need to learn to cope with. Success isn’t granted. It’s not a participation sticker. You’ve got to work, and learn, and FAIL once in a while.
I’m not saying that I don’t suffer from this sense of entitlement just like everyone else. I’m sure I do. We’re an entirely spoiled society. We have a lot of our basic needs provided. We don’t know just how good we’ve got it (until the day the power goes out and you realize that the house is going to get very cold and you don’t know what to do about it!)
Accept failure, folks. Learn from it. Rise above it. DON’T BLAME OTHERS FOR IT! Get over yourself and move on.
</rant>
Thanks for listening. I apologize for any typos – I wrote this in a hurry. I apologize for any offense as well. I recognize that 1) there are always exceptions and 2) broad sweeping generalizations tend not to apply equally to everyone. Let’s all try to enjoy this celebratory time of year, no matter how you choose to do so.
National Blog Posting Month – December 2012 – Work
Prompt – Can you get work done with background noise or do you need the room silent?
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Everyone has there preferences, but for myself, I generally need silence or white noise in order to keep my thoughts from wandering too far. Sometimes I can work to old, familiar music, but most often, silence.
Noise distracts me constantly. I hate extraneous sounds. I like quiet. The noise in this room right now is disturbing me.
National Blog Posting Month – December 2012 – Work
Prompt – Do you think some people achieve easily, or do you agree with Lombardi that “the only place success comes before work is in the dictionary”?
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I suppose that for every little quote like this, there is a notable exception. The problem arises when people assume that they are the exception, and so don’t apply the wisdom provided.
If you want to be successful, you ought to expect to work. That is all there is to say about that. The most successful people, like actors or football players, actually put in some brutally long hours. They also get paid well and get some fantastic benefits, but that’s beside the point. No, actually, that is the point.
We all want to get paid well and we want the fantastic benefits. But we don’t consider that the people who are already in those positions are working their hind ends off to stay where they are. Once one of these highly successful individuals falls out of the adoring spotlight of the world’s population (for whatever reason), often then fades their success. (How many times have we heard of the once affluent person who is destitute later in life, after their fame faded.)
For this reason it is important to work up to achieve success, and to keep working to maintain that success. We can’t take a break and assume that momentum will carry us comfortably through the rest of our lives.
National Blog Posting Month – December 2012 – Work
Prompt – Discuss this quote by Maya Angelou: “Nothing will work unless you do.”
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This quote falls along the likes of what I often say, that few things worth doing are easy. The point here is that the easy route usually fails (though occasionally you luck out). If you want to succeed, you have to do some work. You’ve got to pay your dues, as it were. For most people, work is a requirement for success.
This isn’t to say that hard work is a guarantee of success, but no work is basically a guarantee of no success. Even people who seem to get lucky breaks work hard to put themselves in situations where they might get noticed.
That’s why it’s important to keep working toward goals, even if they seem impossible, because when you stop working, success is not possible.
It’s an unfortunate circumstance that (here in the U.S. at least) this lesson is lost on many. We have a great sense of entitlement in our culture (and I won’t get into the discussion of why) in which we all assume that if we’ve been working scut jobs for so long, we suddenly deserve to get paid more and have wonderful living conditions. And when that fails… well, it’s bad news.
We’re a society of getting a prize for trying, not for winning, which has resulted in a whole generation of people who think they should get something just for being there: entitlement. It can’t work that way, though. Not for adults. Some cope with that just fine. Others sometimes go off the deep end, with potentially disasterous results.
Yes, we need to teach this lesson to our kids: You don’t get something for nothing. You’ve got to work for the things that you want. Nothing worth having is easily attained. “Nothing will work unless you do.”
National Blog Posting Month – December 2012 – Work
Prompt – Agree or disagree: All work and no play makes you a dull girl.
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In the case of this prompt, it’s important to define what is meant by ‘work.’ Work could be defined as that which a person does to earn a paycheck, whether they enjoy the work or not. Alternatively, work could be defined as any task which requires mental and/or physical effort, again whether for pleasure or by requirement.
For me, I distinguish between work and not-work based upon the level of effort required (i.e. the second definition). Thus, watching “America’s Got Talent” is not work, writing a blog post about everything geologically incorrect about the movie “The Core” is work. Going for a two mile run is work. Power-shopping at the mall is not work. Writing this blog post while I’m in the office is work, even though it’s not what I’m actually getting paid for.
Play also needs to be defined better. For me, play is anything you derive pleasure from, whether paid or unpaid. Using these definitions, an activity can be simultaneously work and play – and I do a lot of that. I actually enjoy my job, so I often feel like I’m playing while I’m at work.
All this said, it is important to remember that play, by itself, is necessary for any person to maintain their sanity. If all I ever did was work, or work-play, I think I might lose my mind. That’s why I do watch TV and I do occasionally go power shopping. Without that mental and physical escape, I think I might explode!
Penny Higgins - Storyteller • Artist • Scientist 