… and getting back into it this year.
Phew, I needed that couple of weeks of holiday to slow down enough to get my brain to breath (deeply) and stop puffing. It was a big year. New job that I had to learn, research proposal and ethics application, setting up blogs, finally getting what Twitter was all about, finding people to follow (and getting followers), bloggers feasts with like minded people in education who have a passion for technology, developing a personal learning network (PLN), conferences in Melb, Wollongong & Mooloolaba (that’s a few o’s & l’s), chairing a committee, having three different bosses in the year, being dissappionted at some of the attitudes of those administrators who control resources. etc. etc. By December 23rd I was quite ready for a holiday break.
I actually went cold turkey for two weeks with no access to the network/interweb and headed off to the bush for a lot of nothing. Well, I did manage to read a couple of huge sci-fi novels, do some beach visits, bush walks, catching up with family, some photography and generally develop a relaxed frame of mind too distracted by nothing to think about much at all. Rather indulgent, but bliss. Might try and do that a little more frequently this year.
Two weeks is a long time – anywhere, and getting back into things the second week of January was another matter. Just reflecting on what I’d done over Christmas and New Years, meant that those people in my PLN would also have had any number of adventures & experiences. I wondered what my Twitter followers had been up to, and what of my colleagues at work. Interestingly (or disturbingly) I found it difficult to get back into the flow. I logged back into Twhirl to get my Twitter stream and noticed things were as lively as ever, but I couldn’t jump back into the stream. Very weird. I did notice that some regulars weren’t tweeting and reckoned they were probably on holidays too. So, why did I feel awkward? I did want to connect back into my network, but something was stopping me.
Maybe the cold turkey had removed my need to tweet (my addiction had been cured?), or I had lost some Twitter mojo, or maybe I had to get my head back into the space. Anyway, after a week or so of hesitation and a couple of tentative tweets, I just plunged straight back in! I thought that maybe that would be the best way. People weren’t going to invite me back, I had to commit myself to engage again. And you know what surprised my most (but shouldn’t have), I was immediately welcomed back and made to feel part of that stream and my network – and another lesson learned.
All is well with the world – I’m a tweep. So, now I’m all set for another year of sharing, learning, growing and contributing to my PLN. As BIG Kev would’ve said, “I’m excited!”
