My other life...

I made a vow to my husband that once we adopted, I would curb my workaholic tendencies. I never talk about my career on my blog, but I decided to give you a peek at my other life. I work as an instructional designer assisting faculty who are creating online courses at Grand Valley State University. Basically that means that I get to play and research new technology, consult with faculty from a variety of disciplines, as well as design and teach faculty development workshops that focus on technology integration.



It can be an extremely rewarding job and it can be a very overwhelming job. This week was one of those overwhelming weeks. Every March, our department puts together a Technology Symposium (usually the 3rd Wednesday of the month) highlighting faculty who are doing unique things with technology integration. My colleagues and I literally spend weeks working on this event. That means anything from printing off name tags, signage, publicity, handling the layout of the event with conference services, drumming up presenters and participants..etc. In other words, it’s a TON OF WORK and I always wake up in a cold sweat worrying whether anyone is going to show up at our event.



I’m happy to say that this year’s event was a success. It was well attended (the University President and Provost actually came this year) and most faculty walked away feeling a little inspired to try some new ways to integrate technology into their teaching and learning.



While I was on family leave last year with Josie’s heart surgery and recovery, I had bittersweet feelings about returning to work. It was kinda fun to not be in the working world. I got to focus on my family. I had dinner on the table when Chris got home from work. The laundry was always caught up and the house was a little less cluttered. But I was also starting to miss my professional life and using my professional brain. I kept thinking about all the years of graduate school and how long it had taken me to pay off all my undergraduate and graduate student loans and the reward of finally having a decent paycheck.

Once July rolled around, I was worried about how I’d balance everything once I had to return to full-time work status. It’s been ok. I’ve worked very hard at leaving work AT WORK. For the most part, I’ve been successful at separating my two lives. My house is definitely messier than I’d like. I’m always behind on laundry and it’s not uncommon to be eating dinner much later than I’d like. I guess it’s always going to be a juggling act trying to balance motherhood with a full-time career.