Conscious Choices

In my last post, I wrote about taking ownership and making the choice to own one's role. That memorable choir rehearsal happened back in July 2018.

Since then, I started to really think about what choices I've made in the past year, past decade, and in my entire life in general. There were quite a few opportunities or change in circumstances that would just come at my direction and I would just... roll with it. Looking back, I don't think I made that many decisions. Then it dawned on me that it sounded very much like I wasn't taking ownership of my own life.

This week, I thought I'd write about the two significant choices I made this fall as an attempt to get my life back.

Choosing to be a choral singer

"Wait a minute, weren't you already in a choir in the summer?" In the summer, I was in two choral groups but both of those were ad-hoc, one-off ensembles. We did several rehearsals for one performance, and when the performance was over the group dispersed. There was no continuity.

​This fall, I decided to officially join a community choir - this meant a number of things: getting assigned an ID#, getting my own choral folders, getting a uniform custom made, and getting to see my fellow choir members after a performance is finished because there's the next one to work towards (they are so lovely).

Choosing to be a board member

This fall I also made the decision to apply to join the Board of Directors of a Japanese language school (I am a Board Member now!). This I find will be a VERY interesting experience because although I work in a not-for-profit, I never knew how the governance worked first-hand. So the experience I gain from being a Board Member can compliment the experiences I have as an employee of a not-for-profit organization.

I also hope to utilize my skills that I have acquired in one organization to help the other.

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You may think that these choices that I have made aren't that big of a deal, but to me they look shiny and special because I haven't had a lot of experience deciding on things... like what I want to actually do with myself. My hope is that in the long term, through decisions like these, I will feel more comfortable to make bigger, bolder decisions.

And take ownership of my life like ​what I did with that "Herr".