{"id":78514,"date":"2015-08-18T11:43:28","date_gmt":"2015-08-18T16:43:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=78514"},"modified":"2015-08-18T11:42:11","modified_gmt":"2015-08-18T16:42:11","slug":"you-worry-about-you-taking-charge-of-my-narrative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=78514","title":{"rendered":"You Worry About You (Taking Charge of My Narrative)"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Claire Schmieder, Volunteer Manager
\npreviously published 8\/5\/14
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

You Worry About You (Taking Charge of My Narrative)<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"Claire.Schmieder.SeniorEditor\"<\/a>Both of my boys had the same wonderful Kindergarten teacher. Like most educators, she has\u00a0tons of bite-sized bits of knowledge for her students. Occassionally, I would end up applying\u00a0those bits to my own life and one in particular has stuck with me over the years. Whenever a\u00a0kid would try to rat out someone else for minor rules being broken or would try to butt into\u00a0someone else\u2019s business, she would tell them, \u201cYou worry about you; let them worry about\u00a0themselves.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

This little aphorism has definitely helped refocus me over the years. It reminds me not to get\u00a0bogged down in other people\u2019s drama; it reminds me to maintain self-direction and positivity;\u00a0and it reminds me to take care of myself.<\/p>\n

All that has led me to do some serious thinking about where I see myself in the next 10 to 15\u00a0years. For real, though; not in the \u201cwhat do I need to say during this interview to make sure I\u00a0make it to the next round\u201d way.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m crafting my narrative and I\u2019m taking it very seriously.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve taken lots of things into consideration.<\/p>\n

First, the stuff with my family:<\/strong><\/p>\n

My kids will both be adults in about 10 years, which means I can devote a lot more time to\u00a0working without sacrificing the close relationship I have with my boys (that comes from being\u00a0able to spend a lot of time with them). I\u2019ll also be way more mobile \u2013 I can move and\/or have a\u00a0significantly longer commute. And, I\u2019ll also be able to work longer hours (i.e. get more done).<\/p>\n

Next, I\u2019ve been assessing my personality:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Am I open to new experiences? Conscientious? Extroverted? Am I a leader? And, because there\u00a0are lots of ways to be a leader, if I am<\/em> one, in what ways?<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve also been thinking about my skills:<\/strong><\/p>\n

What can I actually do? How does that make me stand out? Make me useful to others? Am I\u00a0willing to learn new skills? Are there skills I want to acquire but haven\u2019t yet? What skills will I\u00a0actually need going forward?<\/p>\n

And my talents:<\/strong><\/p>\n

What am I good at? How can I leverage my talents to support my future plans? Do I have any\u00a0hidden talents? Do any of my talents make me stand out? If so, how?<\/p>\n

And there are the things I\u2019m passionate about:<\/strong><\/p>\n

If I was working at midnight on a Friday night, what would I be doing? When I read articles or\u00a0blogs, what topics come up over and over again? Where am I volunteering? What does that say\u00a0about my passions?<\/p>\n

Sometimes, this narrative-crafting thing can be difficult.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Like quitting even though I don\u2019t want to let other people down or deal with judgment. Like\u00a0sticking up for myself even when I\u2019m scared. Like being vulnerable and putting myself out there\u00a0in order to take a risk. Like acknowledging when I\u2019ve made mistakes and deciding to learn from\u00a0them.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s also very rewarding.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Through this process, I\u2019ve learned to be open to all types of new experiences and opportunities to\u00a0learn while taking into consideration the level of time commitment and my willingness to see it\u00a0through. I\u2019ve also accepted that it\u2019s a fluid experience \u2013 I can\u2019t be so committed to my plans that\u00a0I can\u2019t (or won\u2019t) change direction if necessary.<\/p>\n

Most importantly, I\u2019m staying in control of my future. I\u2019m worrying about me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Claire Schmieder, Volunteer Manager previously published 8\/5\/14 You Worry About You (Taking Charge of My Narrative) Both of my boys had the same wonderful Kindergarten teacher. Like most educators, she has\u00a0tons of bite-sized bits of knowledge for her students. Occassionally, I would end up applying\u00a0those bits to my own life and one in particular…<\/p>\n

Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":76790,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[145],"tags":[69,3592,3858,3665,3655,3658,6436,5952,6435],"class_list":["post-78514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-article","tag-blog","tag-claire-schmieder","tag-inalj-new-york-state","tag-inalj-nyc","tag-inalj-texas","tag-narrative","tag-planning-for-the-future","tag-you-worry-about-you"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Claire.Schmieder.SeniorEditor.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1WoMK-kqm","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=78514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78514\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/76790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=78514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=78514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=78514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}