My Best Day

For those of you who haven't caught the drift in my previous posts just yet, I am in graduate school studying Higher Education and Student Affairs. Sounds a little abstract at first, but basically, my chosen career path involves being there for college students.
College is a time of copious amounts of growth, development, and change for college students (don't you remember feeling like a different person when you graduated college than when you started?), and my job is to facilitate that growth; to be a support system, advisor, mentor, listener, programmer, whatever the students on campus need to grow and develop and morph into whoever and whatever they want to be.

Hand-in-hand with this career path is professional development, which I've talked about a lot in my previous posts. And a huge source (for me) for professional development is Twitter, which has turned out to be SO much more than just a social media site. Specifically, several hashtags--ways to follow conversations--have kept me thinking, reflecting, and growing-- #sachat (Student Affairs Chat), #sagrad (Student Affairs graduate students), and #wlsalt (Women Leaders: Support, Affirm, Lift, and Transform).

Related to the #wlsalt hashtag, another tag--#sawomenblog--encourages Blog Prompt Mondays, when women can think about our careers and lives and share stories and encouragement with each other. Below is my response for today's Blog Prompt Monday. Enjoy!

Let’s reflect on our careers in student affairs today. Sometimes we need to think about the good times as we navigate through those crazier times. Tell us about your best day in student affairs. We want to hear all about that day the student you helped stay in school their first year later came to tell you thank you when they were graduating. Or how that colleague you mentored got the job you knew was perfect for them. Tell us all about the day that is the epitome of why you do what you do.

Even though I've only been in student affairs for a year and half, there are most definitely moments I can recall that remind me why I'm here and why I chose student affairs. I don't know that there has been a day, a whole 24-hour-period, that can fit this definition--as I'm sure every professional or para-professional in student affairs can attest, there are highs and lows to every day and moments of learning and growth in each situation that arises.

However, for me, the moments that remind me why I'm here are when my students trust me. These moments take several forms, and they always surprise me.

I remember the first time one of my students asked me for a letter of recommendation. I JUST finished undergrad a year and a half ago; I'll be asking for letters of recommendation for myself in a short time when I begin the job search. When did I become a person of influence, a person of worthwhile opinions, chosen to recommend a student for a position of honor? I myself was humbled and honored by her request.

Then, there are the students who come to me for advice, for opinions, for comfort. It seems like just last week when I could go in my mentors' offices, shut the door, and worry about my future with them. These amazing women always took time out of their days for me; they listened to my worry and anxiety and, somehow, with a few words of wisdom, could reassure me that everything would be okay. Now I find myself looking into the faces of a few of my students, the ones who come to my office for advice, and I am again humbled and honored by their trust.

And in those moments, when students come to me for help, I am reminded why I chose student affairs. My mentors, women of intelligence and integrity and strength, helped me discern my future, and have guided me along the way. I chose to become a student affairs professional so I could have an opportunity to pay that guidance forward. If my mentors could take time to help me along in my journey, it's the least I can do to offer the same for any student that comes my way.

Whenever I have a rough day, when e-mails and homework pile up and my statistics class is incomprehensible and I'm on campus for 10-hour-days, I can think back to these bright spots of trust from my students and hope, pray, believe, that I'm making a difference. That's all I really want to do, even if it's just for one student.

You're in the doldrums...

For any fans of Norton Juster's The Phantom Tollbooth, you'll remember that the title of this entry comes from a scene of the story where our hero, Milo, finds himself stuck. He drives along a road, mile after mile after mile after mile after mile after mile... and finds himself in The Doldrums, a place where the people are lazy Lethargians and the world is colorless and grey. Excitement is outlawed, and wasting time is encouraged.

The term "doldrums" also refers to a belt of winds and weather that fall in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, between the northern and southern trade winds, where sailors can often become becalmed, stuck, and stagnated.

I sympathize.

It's mid-semester of my second year of graduate school, and I find myself becalmed, stuck in the doldrums. I still love my assistantship with Student Activities; I am still proud to be on my journey to becoming a student affairs professional. But it's that time of year--the mid-semester "blahs," the doldrums--where I, again, find myself questioning the stresses of my grad school career. Again, I ask myself--is it worth it?

Even more so, I ask myself, what am I doing?

Our cohort has less than 200 days 'til our hooding ceremony. I have less than two months 'til I begin my job search in earnest. These momentous events, signaling a turn in my path and a new horizon ahead, creep closer and closer... and yet I find myself becalmed, stuck in the doldrums, unable to mentally push through the day-to-day stresses of grad school, my job, and the balance between my chosen career path and my life.

And yet, even in my momentary state of stagnation, even as I sit through classes that hardly stimulate me (I am NOT a statistician, nor will I ever be!) and answer endless e-mails, deep down I know that this period of "stagnation" may actually prove to be a great period of growth. As my brilliant mother pointed out to me the other night, it's during the winter, when the trees and plants seem lifeless, that they actually achieve their most growth.

In the future, no matter where I end up or what I'm doing or who I'm spending time with, I'll find myself in these periods of stagnation, feeling like I'm stuck in the doldrums with no prevailing wind to get me out.

But I need to remember this wisdom of inner growth during times of seeming, outward lifelessness. I need to remember that I have a future, that everything happens for a reason and that each perceived time of listlessness and stagnation is a prime opportunity to reflect, pray, and plan for the times ahead.

In The Phantom Tollbooth, Milo is saved from his detour through The Doldrums by a newfound friend, Tock the Watchdog (featured in all his glory at the top of this post), who warns Milo that time is a TERRIBLE thing to waste. Time is our most precious commodity, for it is limited.

What a wonderful reminder to appreciate ALL the time we have, whether we feel listless or engaged; whether we're taking fabulous vacations to faraway places or sitting in our offices, answering e-mails and interacting with colleagues and students; whether we're clipping along on our journey or stopped for a slight detour in The Doldrums. Even these detours, these seemingly mundane and colorless periods in our lives can provide wisdom, wonder, and joy for the lives we're living!

Before I know it, almost without realizing, I'll be out of my personal Doldrums and back on my journey, with a renewed sense of purpose and new-found enthusiasm. I'll be a little bit wiser, (hopefully) a little more mature, and ready to take on new challenges, appreciating every moment of time along the way.