A more superstitious person would not be surprised that Week 13 was my busiest week by far. I spent all of Monday compiling a funding report for the Shinnyo-en Foundation, documenting all of the goals and action items that Jana, Manuelito, and I had set, and doing a bit of reflection in the process. This report was only meant to be a check-in, but it was a really good opportunity for me to reflect on what I had done in the first 3 months (already?!) of my fellowship.
The next day, Manuelito, Jana, and I all met with Katie, Ben, and Ineko from Shinnyo-en Foundation at the new Redwood City 2020 office. It had been quite some time since we had all been together, but it was incredibly helpful to sit down and talk about my fellowship. We quickly went over my work plan and also learned about the opportunity to attend the National Service Learning Conference in Washington, D.C. I’ve never been east of Texas, really, so I am extraordinarily grateful for this opportunity to learn and do service in our nation’s capital. We spent the rest of the meeting time reflecting on the fellowship thus far, and other ways I can serve from this position.
After the monthly Redwood City 2020 team meeting on Wednesday, I worked on my Prezi for the presentation I would be giving to the Gardner Center staff the next day. The weekly staff meeting at the Gardner Center is a good time to learn about what projects other people are working on. So, for many people, my presentation on my fellowship was their first introduction to what I have been doing. People know I am the Shinnyo Fellow, of course, but I think they were unsure of the specifics of what my responsibilities are. I addressed these and spoke about my upcoming projects for the next hour and a half, and got some very helpful feedback, as well as recommended resources for the projects that I am working on.
Friday, on paper, was supposed to be my “down” day: my presentation was over, I didn’t have meetings planned, and I had no reports due. One thing I like about this fellowship, though, is how dynamic it is; new projects can pop up at any time. And this is exactly what happened! Jana returned from a meeting and asked for my help in informing Redwood City 2020’s strategic planning process via collecting the strategic plans of all of our core partners. This was a chance for me to reach out and make some connections in the community, so I was excited to get started. A few hours later, Jana came back from another meeting with yet another idea for work I could do; this time, I would be helping the Prevention Partnership make their proposed work plan focus more on evidence-based practices. So, my “down” day, funnily enough, ended up being one of my more productive and work-driven days yet!
The theme, then, for this week is “Melt Away the Busy Day.” This sentiment expresses how I felt this past week: I’ve found that the more work I have, the more the days seem to blend together, and the faster the weeks seem to move. I definitely appreciate the slower days now, but still think that I am working at my best when I have to juggle a few projects (within reason, of course). I also feel more accomplished at the end of the day, and feel more justified in spending my evenings relaxing with old friends or forging better relationships with my newest friend, Netflix. Reflecting back on this week, it is pretty appropriate that this is how my Week 13 happened. And I feel very lucky to be able to say that.
