Got "The Itch"

Let me make it sufficiently, abundantly, and unabashedly clear: I love my job. Absolutely love it. I have so much fun in the office every day, even when I'm exhausted or dealing with angry club patrons or having to catch up on office work after a long night at an event. I love the work, and I love where I do it. I don't want what I'm about to say be overshadowed by the fact that I am SO happy with where I am right now. I wouldn't have it any other way at this point in my life.

That being said, I'm starting to get the itch. The itch to learn more. The itch to do more. The itch to do something different.

To a certain extent, this is normal. Especially for me. This is the most of a unitasker I have been for quite some time. Working only in an activities capacity is abnormal for me, as someone who is accustomed to doing that, AND committee work, AND some form of research project or presentation, AND school! I'm not in school at all for the first time in several years.

As much as I love what I do, I've questioned it a few times. Hearing about the programming initiatives that friends in other areas and at other schools are presenting, occasionally a voice in my head says "we only put on the fun stuff." Which isn't really true- only last week, I was humbled and amazed at the outpouring of students who fought to see Elie Wiesel as part of the Golden Tribe Lecture Series. And we give our students the opportunity to learn each day in planning all of these events, and I love watching them learn about themselves as they deal with vendors, manage budgets, and train volunteers. But when your day consists of grocery shopping; unpacking boxes from Oriental Trading; or adding "T-Pain" or "Spintacular" into your Outlook dictionary, it's sometimes all too easy to overlook those triumphs.

So what would I like to be doing? I have a pretty substantial, but thus far largely unresearched interest in wellness promotions. It strikes me as a means to integrate my interests in personal wellness (physical, nutrititional, and mental), while also being able to put on programming. The difference is, attendees walking away from the event would absolutely be able to incorporate lessons from the programs into their daily lives. As as much as I loved seeing a near sold out crowd walk away from a comedy show last night, I'm never as confident that equally impactful learning is going on. I think that's okay, but I'd like to be a part of some of the learning too.

So to sum up: love my work. Love it. But I want to do more. Both do more in quantity (A dangerous request, I KNOW), and do more in impact. Here's hoping some opportunities present themselves for me! And if you know of any, you know where to find me...on the Internet anyway :)