Oh snap!
I just realised that way back in May I promised monthly VAA updates, and then never delivered. I will explain this after I have said a great big HAPPY NEW YEAR LOVELY READERS! As I told all my Facebook friends, I wish you failure after failure after failure for the coming year, because:
failure = learning = success
So let's all try and fail a bit more this year, 'kay?
'Kay. So the reason I haven't written any more VAA updates is because I decided VAA'ing wasn't for me. As much as I liked the freedom and responsibility, it required a lot of self-starting, and with the various other volunteer/education/work commitments I had/have, I just couldn't give it what it deserved. I also felt a bit alone in the role, as I was the only Ambassador for Aberdeen, and I live off working with others.
I must admit that there were things I could have done about all this. For one, the guys at Voluntary Arts did make a lot of effort to make being a VAA as sociable as possible. There were all sorts of Facebook pages and groups, visits from staff members, and opportunities for meet-ups in Edinburgh. In part I was often too busy to attend these meet-ups, but I also avoided one or two because I knew I was no longer interested/able to be a VAA, and I felt like a fraud.
But the main, big, huge thing I now understand, is that I SHOULD HAVE ASKED FOR HELP. As I said before, the role required a lot of my own initiative, and while I think I proved that I was able to do this, in the end I couldn't sustain the level commitment it needed. In accepting my resignation, Carol from Voluntary Arts Scotland wrote that actually I could, and should, have asked for help.
"It’s important to remember that you made a very good start at a challenging role, before deciding it was not for you. My only comment would be a gentle suggestion that you ask for - and accept offers of - help whenever you find a commitment like this proving difficult, as you might have been surprised how much we could have helped you and made things more and realistic for you to achieve."
That has been quite an epiphany. Did you know that if you ask for help, more often than not people will be glad to?? I didn't. I assumed folk would a) be annoyed at having extra work to do, and b) think you were useless. I honestly did! So, going forward, I have to find ways of asking people for help. I've made a start by asking a friend I made in Australia (many moons ago!) to help me with some application form 'buzzwords' - for example, can anyone tell me what 'creative and forward-thinking' REALLY means?? - and I shall endeavour to let others help as much as I can manage. It's hard though. When I messaged my Australia friend I was honestly so nervous to read her reply. As soon as that little red '1' appeared on my phone my tummy was in knots in case she thought I was being cheeky. After all, she has no reason to help me, I've never helped her, we've kept in touch but not avidly...but when I finally opened the message she was like, 'Yeah, I'd be happy to.'
Mind. Blown.
So here we are, only day 4 of the year and I've learnt something already! Especially impressive when you consider I had the world's most unpleasant flu bug on the 1st, so it was pretty much a write off, which means really there's only been 3 productive days of the year.
I hope all of you out there have a similarly mind blowing year. Why not get in touch via the comments form below and let me know? Have you learnt anything this year? Have you done anything differently? Or maybe you might like to leave me a comment about your own career development - does everyone find it this hard, or is it just me??
HEYYY, maybe that's what I should call my blog! "Is it just me, or is life hard?"
Hehe.
Well, as usual, over and out,
love love love,
love love,
love,
Naomi
No comments:
Post a Comment