This Is 45!
Reading since September 13, 2023: 320 (Latest reads can always be found on Goodreads)
- Director of Faculty Development & Innovation at College Unbound (full-time)
- Teaching courses at North Shore Community College
- Consulting, Facilitator, Speaker
Favorite Blog Posts of the Year
Looking Back
Professional Changes
Work has pushed, stretched, and challenged me in both productive and less productive ways. I have found myself appreciating the personal growth I've had to figure out on this year and step into. Through this process, I am surprised and intrigued about what all this means for my life's work. There were challenges that made me think deeply about what was the right way(s) forward not just for me but for a larger community of people in a different way than I have had the opportunity to do previously.
I had to address issues that may not have been of my own creation, but in the absence of doing so, they would have remained unresolved for a significant group of folks. This is all a bit vague, and there's definitely a post or two about it in the future. Needless to say, I feel like a very different person in the world of work now—in the ways that I show up, in how I think about my actions, how I interact with others, and what the right thing to do is for different layers or circles of people.
I wonder how much of this also has to do with the fact that, at this time last year, I was mentoring a single person. Now, I'm formally mentoring about four people and informally mentoring a couple of others. I have found this to be incredibly rewarding and enlightening for myself, as I hope it is for the folks I'm mentoring. Having been in the field for about 15 years, I feel that my insights have the ability to help others while also being able to be a sounding board to the folks I mentor and look for opportunities to support their growth.
Through these mentoring sessions, I also have to think about my own work—both big picture and small picture. I have to provide a window into how I make sense of the things I'm doing for these amazing human beings with whom I get to have rich conversations regularly. It's been a powerful and meaningful experience to still be going through a lot of growth and challenges, and to be able to share them with others. I can say, "Here are things that could happen. Here's how I made it through it. How about you? How will you make it through it?" I'm digging that and from that, what I get to learn from them.
In other great news, if you've been following this blog or you're just stepping in for the first time, I have a finished draft of my dissertation. Since finishing the draft, I have done some revising of chapters four and five. While I'd hoped to have a defense date by today, I'm still waiting for my advisor to get second round feedback on these chapters. And there is no shade in that comment towards my advisor—he has done an amazing job of providing rich and thoughtful feedback and also has a lot to do at the institution where they're down a few faculty.
I'm just excited that I have a finished draft, and know I'll be defending soon, sometime in the next month or two. I'm ready for it. I think what I've written is something I'm proud of in terms of the work and the problem I explored. I look forward to the formal defense and whatever comes after. So, not done yet, but done soon. The fact that in this past year I was able to write up chapters four and five while doing all these other things—I'll take that as a win.
Of course, that brings me to all of the AI stuff, and gosh--SO MANY THINGS! To give you a sense, you can see this post from June on my Substack about what I did in the first 6 months of 2024, and this post that looks at what I did in 2023. Yes, I started a Substack--which has over 3000 readers and been a source of exploring AI in education--I've even gotten a handful of paying subscribers.
I thought the AI stuff might start to slow down, and yet in the past 6 months and looking at my schedule for the next 4 months—it hasn't. While there's still a chance it will, I do find that the work I'm providing in this space appears to be valuable, helpful, and meaningful. And also, while it is focused on AI, it's is like all instructional designers focus on any educational technology--how do we understand it in relation to the real goals of teaching and learning.
The collaborations that are coming out of this have been fantastic. I've worked with dozens of folks at various institutions, individuals, and groups, both to help them think about how we navigate, discuss, and engage with these tools, but also to learn from them and consider new perspectives because we end up in these rich conversations.
I suspect that in the next three to six months, there'll be more things in this space that I'm doing and more things coming out from longer-term projects. But to just look at where I was a year ago to today—it's felt like what I thought was a flash in the pan is becoming much more substantial. I imagine this time next year, I'll have even more to say. Or--it have all disappeared. Not sure there's middle here.
Along with mentoring, I've also been involved in a couple of different collaborations. I've gotten to work with colleagues I've respected or wanted to build stronger bonds with, or just have been working with in some capacity, to create produce some thoughtful pieces. These are all in different stages of completion but will probably be finalized soon and off to be published sometime in the next year.
These are collaborations with really talented, thoughtful folks. While it's very clear I like to do my own writing (says the person with two blogs), it's also so cool to write with other people, learning with them, learning through them, and being challenged in my own thinking to enrich the outputs that we're producing.
A powerful year with lots to learn, share, and appreciate. I'll take it!
Home life
On the home front, I almost didn't do a garden this year, but I'm glad that I did. It wasn't my best garden ever, but I did get plants in the ground and food from the earth. I grew a mixture of tomatoes, potatoes, pumpkins, beans, eggplants, peppers, cucumbers, and a variety of herbs. There were a few other things that I'm now forgetting, but it was enough for me to feel grounded in the earth while everything else was going on. I look forward to or hope for a fantastic, robust garden next year. Gardening challenges me in ways that all of this other stuff doesn't; and I just enjoy have my hands in the earth and working with it.
There continues to be a slow expansion of making friends in the area. I'm starting to build a set of people that I'm regularly in communication and friendship with in Rhode Island. I appreciate that and the fact that there are more people I can talk with who are within a 15-minute drive. So, I'm settling into that and building more connections locally while also still holding my ties to the folks that are a bit more geographically distant.
A good chunk of my learning, exploration, and nerding out around generative AI has also been in collaboration with my partner, from whom I learn a lot. I've been enjoying our jam sessions where we show one another the cool things we're doing, seeing, or playing around with.
More importantly, it's been amazing to watch my partner build two businesses at once, which I think says something about the kind of person she is. It's been fascinating to watch her think about, figure out, and launch a business around mindfulness. She's focusing on how to do it in everyday life, how to demystify it, and how to make it feel grounded and not something ethereal. She's so skilled at helping folks tap into everyday moments, instead of just focusing on traditional meditation practices. This approach is valuable, as it makes mindfulness accessible to more people, not just those who have the means to find a quiet place, sit on a pad, and listen to their breath. You can see some of her work here: Website; Instagram; YouTube; Facebook.
At the same time, she's gotten into sewing and crafting, building cute and adorable bags, pouches, and other items. I'm sure she'll continue to work on and expand this business. It's fascinating to watch her work both in the mind and in the body, doing these really cool things. They are impressive feats to set one's mind to, and I find it all just awesome. If you want to see some of her products and markets she sells at, keep an eye on this Instagram account and if you want to purchase her adorable items, then check out her Etsy shop.
Health
When I look at my health, it's been a strange kind of year. I had COVID last year right after my birthday, and it knocked me on my ass. The recovery was hard, taking two months and contributed to other hard experiences. In fact, two health challenges prevented me from working out for about 3 or so months out of the past year. Consequently, all my exercise stats are down, but that's totally fine. Those stats are there as markers, things to observe. I don't feel I've got to beat them each year.
That first round of COVID taught me a lot. It helped me understand the importance of exercise for me as a way to regulate my emotions, my mind, and my thoughts about the world. So when something similar happened in late May, when I started to have a hip issue while running, I was much more prepared for it.
Within the midst of that hip problem, I somehow ended up pinching a nerve in my lower back. If you ask what I did, well, I was doing a wonderfully tricky maneuver that some people have referred to as "putting on boxer shorts." Obviously, I had no business at my age trying such a tricky activity, but here we are. The pinched nerve made it hard to even get up, lie down, or sit.
When it happened in early June, I realized there was a possibility that I might not be able to work out for months. That was scary and concerning. I had to keep myself from grounded. The thing that worked for me in this moment to navigate that challenge was to start Weight Watchers.
We've done Weight Watchers in this household in the past, starting and stopping at different times, finding it useful to a point. In this context, it was something I needed as a guardrail because I didn't have exercise. Without exercise, my emotions had less space to be observed, processed, and released, which in the past often meant that I would end up stress and emotional eating. I didn't want to go that route this time and wanted to do what I could to reduce that tendency.
Having something that gave me very clear parameters to work with was exactly what I needed. It helped me renegotiate eating and hunger in a body that wasn't working out for a significant period of time. I found that tremendously relieving, and it has been particularly successful, as I've lost over 25 pounds and am just a pound shy of having lost 30 pounds.
To me, both getting COVID and navigating it the first time around (not so well), and then navigating this recent health challenge in a way that feels quite right and grounded, has been powerful in increasing my own self-awareness of my body, its movement, and how to support it better in how, what, and when I eat. Obviously, with 30 pounds less, I feel different in my body, but I also feel more tuned to what I'm doing, how I'm feeling, and just how I eat. I think that's been really big for me – I feel I've used this time to improve that aspect of my life.
I will also add, of course, that it wasn't just me alone, because it never is. I also went back to therapy in January to help me work through some of this and other issues. And of course, I've had a really supportive partner to help figure things out and ask good questions at the right times.
Looking ahead
What does it mean to be 45, and what do I expect and anticipate over this next journey around the sun? I have every reason to believe that by this time next year, I will have my doctorate, and that will be quite the change. After nine years, I'll finally not have that thing there. It will be quite a change in terms of what that opens up for me to do. It will also be a mental shift, not having that take up mental and emotional room in my head. As much as I'm comfortable with it taking as long as it has, it still has the ability to stir emotions about where I am or where I'm not.
I anticipate, given just what's on the docket for the next three months and beyond, an ever-more expanding public profile. This is something I'm still navigating and trying to figure out. It continues to makes sense and feels strange or surreal. So, I'd expect more of that, more of trying to figure those things out. Through that, I expect there to be new opportunities and changes that take me professionally to places I may not have been before. I'm excited to see or discover what that looks like.
I also expect that this blog will continue to reflect and represent newer ways of just engaging and thinking about the world or sharing things. Now that I am posting less than I used to, I'm considering what are the ways that I would really want to use this space creatively. I think you'll see some of that coming up in the next few weeks.
So yeah, that's been 45 - a fascinating, powerful, transformative year. I guess I could say that I'm really proud of where I am and what I've accomplished. Looking ahead, this next year promises to be one of additional significant change, especially with the completion of my doctorate on the horizon. It's a time of transition, both professionally and personally, as I navigate an expanding public profile and explore new ways to engage with my audience through this blog. There's a sense of anticipation, a mix of excitement and perhaps a touch of apprehension, as I prepare to step into new roles and face new challenges. But overall, there's a feeling of readiness, of having grown into myself and being prepared for whatever comes next.
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Lance, So glad this popped in my inbox this morning. I've been feeling overwhelmed by the beginning of the semester, teaching in person for the first time in five years, the Institute, some looming speaking engagements I've agreed to but haven't done the work for yet. This essay reminded me to expand the time frame and my feelings would change. Congrats on all you've done. You success on Substack has been an inspiration, and I really appreciate you sharing these essays on the blog.
ReplyDeleteThank you! Yeah--I completely get the feeling overwhelmed--that is probably a post in itself about navigating all these things! Much appreciate for your kind words and continued reading!
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