Blog 25 - Extremely Humbled and Blessed

Have you ever met someone so gracious, kind, and inspiring that it made you feel as if your heart was going to explode?  I did... Last night.

Last night, school was let out early and I got home at 10pm.  I was looking forward to relaxing a bit and popping in an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (nerd!).  I went to the mailbox and saw a letter from a privately held company called Petersen Brands that manufactures Slide Sledge Hammers. 

At first, I thought to myself, "Hmm what's this?  Spam? Or might be the bill the HOA sent me for the broken light out in the hallway..."  I really didn't think anything of it...  I opened the letter and began to read the company's newsletter.

"Whoa! Hey my name is on here!  Zurowski is on here too... Wait.. Oh my gosh!  This letter is from Ane!!"

Ane Shields is someone that I play a popular online game with called Lord of the Rings Online.  She is someone that I've become good friends with just by hanging out in a virtual/imaginary world.  There are several people in the game who I now consider close friends.  A crazy phenomenon.  I blogged about this topic before entitled, "The Flammers."  Two of those people also include Ed and Michele Zurowski (mentioned above). 

I was featured in her company's newsletter and part of their 2011 Giving Program.  I can't even begin to express how blessed and humbled I am to even be regarded so highly by Ane and her company.  Really...  There are a lot of talented people out there and I almost feel like I really don't deserve such high praise.  Sure I work hard... but still...

Ane and my conversations are usually around how school is going and how to best lead our in-game kinship.  She's always telling me how much potential I have...  Potential to do what exactly is something I'm still trying to figure out.  I'm certainly going to do my best in my endeavors and it sure seems like a lot of people have a lot of faith in me...

If I were to describe Ane in one word, it would be: authentic.  And being authentic plays a big role to a successful company these days.  I'm sure she will lead her company to a lot of prosperity...  Perhaps in the future when I'm done with this MBA, I'll be able to lend a helping hand somehow.

Ane, you've changed my life... I really hope we get the opportunity to meet someday!  You're in my prayers :)

Day 24 - Stress!

Have you ever had one of those weeks where you feel like everything is just piling up and you're sinking deeper and deeper into an unorganized mess?

This happens to be one of those weeks for me.  Between work and school, life as a working professional and graduate student can become a nightmare.  I could vent on and on about what's wrong with the management of projects, or the unorganized chaos that people like to function in, but that would just turn this blog into a big ol' rant.

So how do I deal with the stress?  I'm by no means a perfect person and I'm not proud that, in the heat of the moment, I caught myself raising my voice to some folks at work.  (Which is very uncharacteristic of me, if you know me).  Anyway, to be honest... I'm not sure how to handle the really stressful situations.  I can handle the pressures of deadlines if I can dedicate my time to getting a job done.  But when things get really dirty... How do you handle yourself?  It's easy to put down on paper that you have to do:

1. Stay calm
2. Make a list of priorities
3. Tackle one thing at a time
4. Yadda yadda yadda

It's a completely different story when you have the "fire-hose" blasting at you...  This is something that I read in a book my mom gave me a long time ago... And it seems to help me, personally.  Maybe it'll help you.

"There is only so much sand in the hourglass.  Who gets it?"

"It's a tug-of-war, and you are the rope..."

"I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you.  I will give you hope and a good future.  Then you will call my name.  You will come to me and pray to me, and I will listen to you.  You will search for me.  And when you search for me with all your heart, you will find me!" Jeremiah 29:11-13

What I get from this is...  God will always take care of you.  He has a plan for you life and when things get overwhelming and crazy it helps to take a timeout and focus on what he's blessed you with.  See the bigger picture and take some time to clear your head... Work is work and it will always be there... Don't become so entrenched in your work that you lose sight of everyone or other things that are also important:  God, your family, your health...

Even if you're not a spiritual person, just take some time to reflect on things... Take a walk and breath... You'll return to work with a lot more focus and clarity.

Ok back to work... ;)