The New Year is always a time for reflecting on the past, and looking to the future. For me, the past two years have been the most defining in terms of who I am today. That's not to say that the previous 27 years weren't also influential. It's just that the end of 2006 marked a very specific turning-point in my life, and it hasn't been the same since. I know that it's an awful cliche, but I moved to Darwin with the intention of doing a bit of soul-searching, and finding "who I am", and to this end, I feel almost close to completion - not that I've quite reached "self-actualization" as such, but I've got a much better idea than I did two years ago.
Each year has also be remarkably distinctive, and if I were to summarise them, I'd do so thus:
2007: The year of exploring and experimentation
I explored many aspects of my profession and the industry, moving through various jobs in different sectors.
I took substantial risks in finding my own voice, ranging from the optimistic and pleasant to the downright arrogant and cynical, through blogging and public speaking opportunities.
I played around with various performance art forms, incl. theatre, standup comedy, solo cabaret and slam poetry.
Overall, I got a good feel for the scope of my abilities, how to do things, and more importantly, how not to do things. I had a fair idea of where I wanted to go, but still somewhat clueless as to how to get there.
2008: The year of commitment and confidence.
Having seen that the opportunities were in my grasp, it was the year for taking a leap of faith, making the commitments, and hoping that nobody would call my bluff.
I self-produced and performed a successful show at the Adelaide Fringe, and then followed it up with a successful run at the Butterfly Club in Melbourne.
I did my part on a committee of accomplished and inspiring professionals, with the New Librarians Symposium.
I started making regular performances on the radio, and produced and/or hosted semi-regular cabaret/comedy shows in Darwin.
I developed my own identity and profile, both as a librarian and a performer.
I started making some serious decisions about my career pathway, and what I want to do with my profession, and made substantial moves through networking and "putting myself out there".
Sure, a lot of things that I did were occasionally off-the-cuff and far from perfect. However, I realised that I could wait forever to be perfect and never achieve anything, or I could go out there and "just do it", and I'll improve with experience.
The Year 2009
So, where does this leave me on my so-called Librarian Idol mission?
When I look at the past two years, I realise that I now have the motivation, the knowledge and the knowhow to get where I want to be. I've played around a lot, as well.
Well, this will be a year of quality. It'll be the year of taking the time to refine my skills. I know that I can do it - now I need to know that I can do it well. I'm going back to uni to get some more research experience. I'm taking the time to re-write my work, and improve it. I'm taking the time to think about things a little more before I say / blog them.
That's my resolution for 2009. Quality.
