by Ashley Lister
It’s that time of year when my students are graduating and receiving their degrees. It’s a time of mixed emotions for me as I’ve known some of these folk for more than three years and, as they move onto bigger and better things, it might be the last time I see them. I’m particularly proud of the current cohort as these brave educational adventurers managed to achieve their success during the restrictions of Covid – and that can’t have been easy.
But, instead of viewing this as a sad time, we rightly choose to see it as a cause for celebration. It’s a time to celebrate the accumulated results from all the hard work and study and it’s a chance to look forward to the bright future that’s awaiting each graduate.
Which is what I’d like to do on this post. I’m not going to spend the remainder of this post bragging about my personal achievements (other than to mention I’ve published a book of my incredibly rude poetry and recorded an audiobook version of that title).
What I’m more interested in is: what have YOU been doing over the past couple of years that is worthy of celebration? And yes, dear reader, I’m talking directly to YOU.
Please shout about your reasons to celebrate in the comments box below, share links to your work if that’s possible, and give us all a chance to congratulate you for your success.
Hi, Ashley!
I’ve published two novels since 2020 and I’m working on the third.
I’ve also run Charity Sunday blog hops almost every month since 2017!
The novels are a huge achievement. The Charity Sunday blog hops are incredible (and do so much good work for the community).
This is awesome.
Ash
Thanks for asking, Ashley,
On June 30th, I wound up my 51-year so-called career as a secretary/administrative assistant, or in the parlance of the University of Vermont, during the past 15 years, 2 months, and 2 weeks (but who was counting?), a “program support generalist.” A secretary by any other name is still the person who performs a whole raft of specific tasks, PLUS “all other duties as required.”
I am now officially retired, and while it took me 51 years to accomplish that, just hanging in there and being one of those “essential” workers, who continued the support, by working from home, and still going into the office at least one day a week, during the first year-and-a-half of the pandemic (because mail, both inbound and outbound, still had to be processed, cheques still had to be deposited, the office still needed to be looked after, the plants still needed to be watered, and volume printing, scanning, and copying could only be done using the proper equipment) was an accomplishment.
But one of my greatest accomplishments, during that time, and really, over the past 15 years, wasn’t writing stuff that got published, per se, but rather writing that kept people’s spirits up. I didn’t realize, until the perfect little retirement party they threw for me, how much everyone appreciated my sense of humour, which was often communicated via emails.
To me, it was so gratifying to learn that some of my emails cracked people up, and that some people even kept my emails and re-read them every so often to get them started with a smile, or if they just needed a chuckle from time to time. I might not have written any stories that had any impact on a much wider audience, but I wrote anecdotal snippets and one-liners that brought laughter into a day that might otherwise not have had much fun stuff happening in it. And that, in my humble opinion, is an accomplishment.
Now, I’m enjoying being totally on my own schedule, with the affirmation that I did, indeed, make a difference. (And my work wasn’t too shabby, either.)
To quote Michelle Obama (as my director did at my retirement party), “Success isn’t about how much money you make, it’s about the difference you make in people’s lives.”
I certainly wish I’d written that, but I suppose it’s not a bad thing to live it, instead.
Rose 😉
Rose
That’s one hell of a legacy. I think the pleasure in learning about the impact you’ve had on others is one of the main reasons for staying on any campus. Knowing something as simple (and potentially disposable) as an email is still being treasured is a testament to something we’ve known in these parts for a long time: you know how to string a sentence together 😉