Saturday 31 December 2011

My Thoughts on 2011 and hopes for 2012

More personal this posting

Professionally 2011 has been great:
  • I have a new boss in Fujitsu who sees the value I bring, and enables me to do what I do best.
  • UKOUG has changed and I am President of a great community with a great future.
  • I continue to speak around the UK and the world on Fusion Apps, with help from the ACE Program and the UX Advocates Program.
Personally:
The friends I have made around the world have given me great highs, but towards the end of the year I also had a number of lows. I get quite lonely, which maybe because I rarely spend time at home, but also because my darling daughter of whom I am so proud graduated from university and is now at Sandhurst as an army officer, and really has flown the nest now. I love travel and love my job and I love my house, but I do need to decide what I want to do in the future.

So my wishes for 2012
  • Iron out the highs and lows (or rather drag the lows up)
  • Have the best 50th birthday ever (which I will because I am celebrating in Colorado with 42 of my best friends
  • See my daughter graduate from Sandhurst
  • Continue to enjoy my job
  • Get re-elected to UKOUG Council and stay on as President
  • Make more friends and stay friends with the ones I have now
  • Visit my best friend in Munster, Germany
  • Step down from the Product Development Committee IOUC and help someone else take over
  • Do more diving, and defiantly before the liveaboard I am doing in August
  • Find someone special would be nice but not sure I am ready for online dating

2 comments:

Cary Millsap said...

Debra,

Your list inspired a thought that I've had before, but it's never been as clear to me as it is just now. It's simple: I think perhaps instead of a list of things we want, expect, or hope for in the coming year, perhaps a better list is the opportunities we're committed to saying yes to.

The older I get, the more aware I become of opportunities that have come our way, but we delayed or demurred, in spite of their being what we wanted. Sometimes a little extra decision-making in advance gives us more courage to say yes—and commit right on the spot—when the time comes.

What do you think?

Debra Lilley said...

I agree although I would need to clarify a little. I need to decide what I want to do in general terms and then be able to say yes or no to opportunities. If I don't know what I want then I end up saying yes to everything and then burn out or miss the things I really want to do.

As for you, if the decision to say yes, had been made at the same time as articulating the desire to do the presentation, it would not have been such a worry; but who am I to talk?