It’s just effort.
I had an interesting pair of discussions with netmouse and silver_bits about an article I read in Creative Cow (a media professional mag) about a program at James Madison U for HD in any one of five concentrations. Being a B.A. program, it may not be exactly appropriate for me… but then again, maybe it would be. Either way, it’s cool to see that there -are- programs out there that get me hot under the collar. I haven’t looked around for a postgrad program (yet), but this really gets me thinking.
The part I wanted to lay down in my journal was about perception.
Me: Though I don’t know if I’m ready for it -now-, I think my next step is to push out of commodity work, if I can. If I have enough talent and drive.
Katie Fitz: just started flipping through the website, and saw the different concentrations within the one major, it looks like it’s a bachelors, since it’s a 4 year outline of classes
Me: It’s not something I can look through right now. curse of having a monitor visible by just about anyone.
Katie Fitz: I think that the problem is not if you have enough talent and drive, so much as if you can find someone to both recognize and appreciate that
Me: *chuckle* Honestly, I think if I have the requirements, I can make that sort of thing happen.
Katie Fitz: yeah – but it feels like you’ve been banging your head against a wall for a while now, just to get people to recognize what you can do…
Me: *shakes head* What, here, at this place? Come on now, I have -one- direct boss, and have had that boss for two and a half years. I have been banging my head to get HIM to recognize what I can do. And he has, and so has (at this point) everyone else in the company, including bosses all the way to the top.
Katie Fitz: I meant not only your boss, but your frustration as you were searching [redacted]
Me: It was -his- problem here. Once I was given an opportunity, I jumped on it and everyone has been impressed. I’m a social person who can speak soundly about video and media – I think, if I have the chops for it, I won’t have any difficulty convincing someone I’m worth it.
Katie Fitz: I’m glad they are finally seeing the light, just thinking about how many holes you had to poke in the ceiling before they did…
Me: And as far as that goes, you know very well that no one is hiring in Michigan. And if they were, before this job what -professional- position did I have that showed I could do the work?
Me: *smiles* It’s just work. It’s just effort.
Katie Fitz: I’m not trying to argue.
Katie Fitz: I know. And I think you’re abslutely capable of it.
Me: It’s just perspection, you know? Just like what I said to you [about your degree]. Do I want it, or not? That’s really the only question.
Katie Fitz: True that.
My original job had -nothing- to do with my degree. I could sit back and say it was haaaard to get to this point, but my real opinion is, so what? Hard things are challenging, inspiring, exciting. Easy things are … boring.
When I think of something I did that was difficult, I don’t think, “That almost killed me!” I think, “Man, that was an amazing experience!” (If I didn’t think that way, I wouldn’t have changed fields three times in the past twelve years. ‘course the older I get, the more I realize that I haven’t changed fields – I’m just pulling them all together.)
There are certain ways of perceiving the world that I find very successful for navigating that world with less stress and more joy, and this is one of them. It’s not like it’s my original idea – I’m just running with it.
This is how I finally made my decision about school, to be sure.
I finally took time to think about what I wanted for myself, and now I know I can get there with perseverance as well. When I think back to my days of traveling to Lansing a few nights a week, while working full time, I am impressed with how much I was able to accomplish – not laid flat by how I had to do to get there.
:hugs: