I am who I am

Sometimes you find someone that wants you to change to meet their expectations.  I have come across this type of person and all I can say is, I am who I am, and you cannot change me.

It is very interesting to see what a person will do to try and make you who they want you to be and not let you be who you are.  In a lot of cases, if someone tries to change me without a very good reason, they are going to find someone that will fight back.  I have my own values and ethics, and theses are extremely important to me and have made me who I am.

I understand that not everyone is going to like all of me, but they have to accept that I have my values, and they need to respect that.  They also have to respect who I am and what I stand for and not try and make me someone different.

People have to understand that everyone is different and have their own views of things and even if you don't agree with a person's views, understand that you don't have to, but you should at least hear their view.  Being able to accept someone for who they are is important because if you try and force a person to change, they may change, but not the way you wanted them to change.  In my case I did change, I changed the way I dealt with the person instead of letting them change the core of me.

I am who I am, and I am not going to let someone else try and change me just because I don't meet their expectations.

Writing on a Schedule

For me, writing on a schedule doesn't work.  Some say you must write so many words a day, while others say write when you are inspired.

Some days I can write pages and pages of thoughts and ideas, while other days the pages stay blank.  For me, I try to capture all the ideas I get, big or small.  Sometimes a thought can be just a few works, later developed into an entry or policies or procedures.  Another time, a thought can be pages of a completed piece written all at once.

Not everyone can write on demand but capturing ideas is very important.  For me, I normally have something handy to write an idea on so that I don't forget it.  Some ideas don't get worked on for ages, while other ideas are quickly expanded on.  I have more than one method of tracking ideas, so that is why I sometimes end up with 2, 3 or even 4 small notebooks in my purse at once.  The notebooks are besides the tablet that normally is in the purse as well.

My writing is both professional and personal.  Ideas come when they do and not based on a schedule, so I need to capture all of them.

Writing for me is something I enjoy doing.  Please don't ask me to produce so many words or pages each day, as it isn't going to work.  Writing happens when it does, and ideas also come about when they do.

Writing on a schedule may work for some and not others.  Well, off to see how many more pages I write today.

A Day to Dream

We all need time to just sit and dream. The dream may be about an upcoming event or time, or it may be just little thoughts that pop into your head.

Sitting quietly and watching the world go by can sometimes be that dreaming day.  Simply watching the comings and goings of others can be a spark of some dreams.  Thinking of where people are heading can be so much fun.  Where are they taking that bagful of stuff or why are they in such a rush.  Watching others and thinking differently than normal can inspire you.

The mind does need that time to slow down because we are so often rushing around ourselves.  We all have too many things to do in what seems like not enough time.  Making sure we have some dream time is important.

A day to dream can help in many ways.  It can help in refocusing your own tasks, lets your mind solve problems without all the stress of normal, or it can even give you new ideas.  It doesn't really matter what the outcome of your day to dream is, as long as it meant you could escape the daily routine.

On my dream days, I always have some paper and a pen handy.  You never know what ideas or thoughts can come to mind.

Demands of our time

Nowadays, there seems to be more demands of our time than ever before. Maybe the demands really haven’t changed other than we are more aware of them now because of constant communication methods.

Before we all carried mobile devices, we could basically only be reached at home, work or by chance meetings. Now we are basically reachable no matter where we are. Email, SMS, phone and other methods of communication means that we are constantly trying to meet the needs of others or at least communicating with them. How many times have you checked your email just before tucking in and then upon waking? If you are like most people, this is something that you do almost without thinking about it now.

We still have the same number of hours in a day, but now that communication is faster and can be done from anywhere. So many people think that it’s easier to send a quick message than to pick up the phone. Sometimes it’s actually easier to make that phone call instead of writing a message because the back and forth messages can end up taking longer than the actual phone conversation would have been and with a lot less confusion. Most adults nowadays do check work email from home or from their mobile device after work hours. In a lot of cases if you can deal with a message quickly it means that you aren’t going into many issues the next day. Yes, you are trying to start your day by doing what is on your to-do list instead of dealing with the messages that accumulated over the time from when you left work and when you returned.

I know that sometimes I feel that there are more demands on my time than before, but I think I am my worst enemy when it comes to that. I am the one that puts the demands on myself to try and make sure that I get everything done quickly instead of thinking that something will get done a bit later, and there isn’t any problem with that.

Remembering that we managed before the mobile devices sometimes is what it takes for us to step back and realize that demands are the same, but now we see them quicker.

Communication between IT personnel and other individuals

How many times have you read an email or document and been extremely confused because some of the terms in the message were difficult to understand. In some cases, these messages or documents have been written by someone in an IT department, and it is full of IT terms and acronyms.

In a number of cases, these messages are trying to inform you of information that is important to you and your work. IT personnel sometimes seem to have a language all of their own, and it is hard for them to communicate without using their shortcuts. In some cases, it’s even difficult for other IT personnel to understand each other.

It is extremely important to remember that when you are writing an email or document that is going to be used by others in the company that you use language that everyone is going to understand. If you are going to use an acronym in your document, ensure that at the beginning of the document you write it out in long-hand and then show the acronym. This is important even when talking to other IT personnel because an acronym can mean a number of different things even to IT personnel. Here is an example of one acronym having three different meanings.

DC - direct current, domain controller and data centre

It is vital to ensure that a document or email can be understood by all that are going to receive it. Using IT specific terms can result in a misunderstanding of the document, or in some cases the entire document will be ignored due to the confusion. Using simple writing is the best way to ensure that the message is going to be received and understood by everyone. This method of communication doesn’t just go for written, it should also be used when talking to individuals. If you are using terms that the recipient doesn’t understand, your message will not be received correctly.

Remember, not everyone is from IT and not even IT personnel use all the same terms and meanings.

Reflections of yourself

Have you ever looked into a body of water and looked at a reflection of yourself? 

What made us who we are is something that is hard to explain. No, we weren't just made up of good experiences, some experiences were bad, but they also helped make us who we are today. Learning that not all experiences are going to be good will help make you a better person.

If we cannot forget the bad experiences, they are going to impact us for the rest of our lives. What people need to do is realize that a bad experience happened and let it go. No, it may not be totally forgotten, but at least saying it happened, and I am not going to let it negatively impact the rest of my life is important. Being able to accept it happened but not dwell on it will make you a better person. Another important thing is learning from the negative experience and trying not to repeat that same experience.

Looking into who you are is something we all do from time to time, and it's important to look at the good experiences and be happy with them. The experiences that weren't, so good are lessons that we learned and things that cannot be changed, but experiences that we don't want to repeat.

Knowing how to accept that a bad experience happened and letting it go will help make that reflection of yourself even better. You will know that you are a stronger person for letting it go.

Journaling - paper versus computer

Journaling is a process of documenting thoughts, activities, and memories.  A journal can be done so many different ways, and it all depends on the purpose of a journal.  Some individuals keep paper journals, while others use a computer as their method of keeping their journals.  If a computer is used some use specific software, some publish their journals for others to read while others keep their journals as a document on their computer for private viewing.  There is no right or wrong method of journaling, as it is an individual preference.

Some of my journaling is done on the computer and is available for others to read and some is done on paper as they are my personal thoughts and I want them to remain private.  One advantage of using paper is it can be done anywhere and is quickly available.  It some instances, entries that have originated on paper have later been entered on the computer and are available to others.

Journaling to me is a method of tracking my thoughts, activities and memories.  In some cases a journal can be used to assist in resolving issues while other times it can be a great venting location, especially if it's a private journal.  A journal is whatever an individual wants it to be.

If a journal is on a computer, and you want it to remain private, a password would be suggested to ensure no one can access it.  If a journal is accessible to others, they could read it and even let others read it or make it public, or it's important to protect your journal if you want it kept private.

A paper journal if left out is accessible to others, so that is also something to consider.  The privacy of journals depends on the people around you.  I keep journals in various methods, and I know that even my paper journal is private as I trust those around me to leave it unless I want them to see something and I will show them.

Journaling can be a means of escaping and writing about dreams, or it can be a method of capturing ideas.  Paper versus computer is an individual choice, the same as public versus private.

Know what you want your journal to be, and then enjoy your time writing in it.