[Image: "Stress" by Dave-F - CC BY 2.0]
I’m writing this post for my own benefit more than anything else, in the hopes of processing all the stuff that’s been going on in my head the last month so I can close one chapter and start looking forward to what lay ahead.
The last four to six weeks have really not been fun. I mean really not been fun. We’ve been in the midst of transitioning a major service to a another unit on campus and the amount of work required to do so has been absolutely phenomenal – culminating in this last week, in which the fruits of our final push was an unprecedented degree of productivity and output.
I’m truly astounded about how much we actually managed to get done, and how many loose ends we tied up.
I wouldn’t have had it any other way, really. I know the team who is taking over the service and wanted to make it as easy a time of things for them as possible. I also know they’ve got a big job ahead of them, and there’s a lot of concern about taking on such a mammoth service with such a small crew (albeit one that is expected to grow). So the motivation was definitely there to do as much as I could to help them out.
Unfortunately though, the stress was there too – the overwhelming stress – and ever-present demand to be always on, always working, always responsive – writing oodles and oodles of documentation, implementing crucial last minute changes, testing, testing and more testing, and a seemingly never-ending stream of support requests sent directly to my inbox. And we hadn’t even broached the topic of pre-session scheduling, clash resolution, and all the support that arises with that.
In many ways it was a superhuman feat. Happily we seem to have arrived at the end of the process, with today being the first day I’m official not involved in the service anymore.
Yet having gone through this much; having poured this much effort, blood, sweat and stress into the process – I’m finding that the mental transition to the next stage of my career is somewhat difficult to recognise and embrace. The stress still lingers a bit – so I’m hoping that putting pen to paper and witnessing my thoughts unfold before me will help close the chapter.
What I’m looking forward to
A thought occurred that perhaps the best thing to consider at the moment is what I’m looking forward to, and what lay ahead rather than what lay just behind. So here are my thoughts in that respect in no particular order.
I’m looking forward to blogging again. I did manage to do a bit here and there during the transition process, but not nearly as much as I’d like to have done. I find that I learn, think and plan through blogging. Going through stretches where I’m unable to do so, I start to feel less and less on the ball; sort of adrift, unprepared and to a degree unmotivated. Blogging enables me to set my sites on something, think the matter through completely and thoughtfully and fully explore every subtle aspect of it.
I’m looking forward to Connectivism and Connective Knowledge 2009. If last year is anything to go on, I’m anticipating an immersive, intellectually stimulating and inspiring period where I’m challenged, stretched and empowered to look at things in new ways and have the opportunity to engage and interact with some amazing people.
I’m looking forward to sinking my teeth into the educational aspects of educational technology again. The stretches I’ve been able to do this have historically been exceptionally rewarding, and I’m all too keen on getting back into that headspace. I see a tremendous amount of amazing potential in social media to engage an empower learning, and I relish the chance to explore this landscape once again.
Following on this, I’m looking forward to research, innovation and development. This is what I’ve been meant to be doing for ages now, but unfortunately that had taken the back burner to service support for some time now. With the service having just been transitioned there is a massive backlog of applications, environments and software to explore, pilot and evaluate – and a seemingly equal degree of demand for new opportunities in this area.
Looking forward , there is much to do and explore, and I’m looking forward to the challenges and opportunities.
