Thing #1 Life Long Learning

I like to think of myself as a life long learner. I enjoy learning new skills, I love a good challenge, and I always want to try new things. I had a job for many years where I worked on dinosaur type computers. It was a small non-profit agency and they had little money. We needed ferrari type computers to do our jobs, but we had were minis. It was so much fun to pull those computers apart, rebuild them, put in new parts, and fix major melt downs. I really enjoyed the challenge, and the constant figuring of puzzles. I was never afraid to break the computer, and I was always confident that we could work something out. There are many instances in my life where I have felt when facing a challenge or learning something new I could not fail. This is, of course, not always true. But I am always happy that feeling of invincibility returns.

There are places and times, though, when this is not true about me. And most of the time this happens in groups. I am not good in a group of adults. My shyness creeps in. I feel self-conscience and worry about every word that exists my mouth. I find it almost impossible to find that feeling of invincibility. Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice says, "with every attempt to intimidate me, my courage always rises." I say this quote in my head some times - I wish I could be like her. Witty, charismatic, charming, and have the ability to stumble in public, shake it off and keep moving forward. I don't have these same failings around kids - I feel comfortable around them. Nerdy and dorky, or what ever I am - I don't mind being that person in front of kids.

Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by the amount of information technology offers. It sometimes feel like there is too much news or too many choices. It can be nice to have so much right at my finger tips, but often I want a little quiet from it all. Especially the news - I feel overwhelmed by all the sad, tragic, horror stories from every small town around the world. The piece of technology I have the most trouble with is the phones - I don't want to be that accessible all the time.

So I guess when I look at the 7.5 habits I find that when I work solo or with kids I find the habits come easier. I don't mean that everything I do works out perfectly - that certainly doesn't happen. But I pop back easier, quicker, and see each mistake as an opportunity. This is not necessarily true when it comes to being in groups of adults. I usually would rather melt in to the wall.