Friday, April 5, 2013

April Adventures Begin


Hello my friends. I apologize for blogging so late. Things have been busy, so before I begin reflecting, I’d like to give you all a quick update regarding what I‘ve been up to and where I'm going this month.

I set out with a lot of goals this semester – to find a new job, to finally work on my board game, and to set aside time to nurture connections and reflect. I found quickly that I might be waiting longer than I thought to get to these goals. I’ve been spending most of my time working on the Myanmar Futures Exchange project.

Originally planned to be a half-day workshop on futures thinking to be launched in conjunction with the GIST conference, the MFE is now a two-day, 120 person event with panel discussions, workshops, networking receptions, and prestigious keynote speakers. The pressure is definitely on me to deliver and its both stressful and exciting at the same time.

I feel that one of my strongest take-aways from APLP is the confidence in my own capability. People who succeed aren’t more talented or clever than you or I (well usually), they simply have the confidence in themselves that allows them to act.

For several years before coming to Hawaii I felt that I needed to be more of an “expert”. If only I knew more about cooking, I could start a food blog. If only I was enough of a leader in my community, I could organize events and speak on panels. If only I just kept doing the same thing, but working hard, I would eventually gain enough “expertise” to be taken seriously and be given a platform to do the things I really wanted to do.

APLP helped me discover that nobody is going to ever give me a platform. What I was seeing in others, and waiting for in myself wasn’t expertise, it was the mere act of doing. By doing something, no matter how small, you step a little closer to expertise until one day it finally just happens.

I feel like I’m putting it to work with the MFE. I’m not a Myanmar expert or a futurist. But, I do have the desire to learn and become one and to do something big and maybe fail at it. Ambition feels good right now, it’s a place I haven’t been in a while.

I won’t get into the details of the MFE now, there will be plenty of time for that in the coming weeks. I will however give you a taste of the journey I am on. I left DC today to go to New Orleans for my cousin’s wedding. After a few days I’ll fly to Honolulu for a week to workshop the MFE. Then onwards to Yangon for two weeks to prep for, and host the MFE as well as get reunited with GISTers. Finally, I’ll come back to Hawaii for graduation and, before going back to DC, head to Las Vegas for a family birthday party. It’s a lot of travel but I hope to share some of the destinations, and my reflections along the way with you all. 

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