I AM Self Sufficient

I have always prided myself on being self sufficient.  My husband always joked that one of the things that he loved about me was that I didn't NEED him (but WANTED him).  I love being able to do things on my own, from figuring out how to move something really heavy (tip: leverage is your best friend!) to changing the oil on my truck.

I think part of it comes from being an introvert and preferring to be alone.  I find a lot of social situations very draining and need time to myself to recharge.  It's not only daunting to ask for help sometimes, but it's often just easier and faster for me to do it myself.

Another part of it is working in a very male-dominated industry.  From the very beginning I wanted to prove that I had what it takes to be in construction, and that I wasn't going to be a burden that had to rely on my male coworkers for every task.  It's amazing how a little problem solving and stubbornness will  help you find a solution to most things.

But just because a person CAN do everything for themselves doesn't mean that they can't reach out and ask for help, or be part of a team.  It took me a long time to get used to that idea, and my default is still going it alone.  But being part of the I Ho Chuan team has made a big impact, because we're all pretty like-minded: driven, compassionate, resourceful.  Surrounding myself with people who ask more of me than I do has taught me to go farther than I would have alone.

So thanks for that

 

Song of the day: Morning Glory by Oasis
https://open.spotify.com/track/1H0K1GVwLteCZrPquy7qkM?si=80bbe9bf09984995


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Warp Factor Metaphor

 Ya know, I made the title of a blogpost "Increase speed to Warp Factor 2" a little while ago as a joke, but I was thinking about that metaphor today and I think it really works.  Because you want to be able to take yourself to Warp 9 and be able to hold it for a while, but that speed isn't sustainable long term, it's too hard on the engines.  And there are times where you're going to have to slow down to Impulse and coast, but if you want to get anywhere, Warp will get you there much faster. So my goal is to get myself to a comfortable cruising speed of Warp 5, with the options of going higher or lower, depending on whether I'm encountering a Borg Cube or a Class M planet. Also, in the book I'm reading I came upon a fantastic section that fits with the concept of mediocrity: "Failure is easy to measure.  Failure is an event.     Harder to measure is insignificance.  A nonevent.  Insignificance creeps in, it dawns, it gives you hope, then delusion...
Read more

Bumpy road

Image
This last week has not been great for my I Ho Chuan numbers.  I didn't realize how much leeway I had with my time being on night shift, and now that's gone I've been having trouble getting into a new routine.  But I haven't given up!  Things are settling in at work, and I'm figuring out little moments I can get my push ups and sit ups in.  And I figure if I can get 30 minutes of Kung Fu in every evening then I can start getting my form reps up. Cleaning up on Saturday was brilliant!  It was really nice getting to see everyone outside of the Kwoon, and I thought we did a pretty awesome job in the park and at the Kwoon.  I really liked how the kids got right into the spirit of it.   I actually started working on some crafts yesterday, too.  In order to raise funds for our Star Trek social club, the crew of my ship makes crafts to sell at markets, and at the upcoming Fort Fan Fest in Fort Saskatchewan.  My contribution is the painting of te...
Read more

I AM Organized

Image
I've been putting this blog off all week, not because I'm not feeling good about everything, but because I just couldn't think of something to say.  So, I'm dipping into the I AM chalice. I realized last year that I have undiagnosed adult ADHD.  It was stupid how, lots of my friends who are diagnosed ADHD were posting memes on facebook about the condition and it was getting a little too familiar, then I saw this one: I looked back on my life and saw all the signs, from hyper-focusing on the wrong thing at the wrong time, to time-blindness, to procrastination, to executive dysfunction.  I've spent the last 20 years building up my coping mechanisms without even realizing it.   So, the last couple of months when I actually got my butt in gear and worked on my Bat'leth form, made the Bat'leth, researched it, organized it, printed and laminated it, put it into a good (I hope) order, and practiced it, tweaked it, all long before the deadline instead of frantically...
Read more