Slip Sliding Away . . .

byWHearn

432 followers

7 years ago

How quickly we can jump in the ranking . . . and how quickly we can slide down.

Greetings fellow WA members and guests! It is surely a privilege to be here with you and to share in the energy and love of such a wonderful community. My membership started in October, and I was amazed at how quickly I jumped into the top 200 in rank! It just seemed too easy as I see that many hover around the 1,000 - 3,000 range. What was my strategy to rise to "stardom" so quickly? Well . . . I have no strategy or desire other than to genuinely care for you. As I have stated, it is a privilege to be here with you. My joy comes in seeing people progress, learn new things about themselves, to improve their skills, and to overcome obstacles on their way to success. I love reading the stories that you tell. Without you . . . I am alone.

So . . . quickly I climbed, and quickly I am falling. The cause is simple. Neglect. Although I do check my email for updates every day and respond as much as time allows, I haven't done enough to earn a ranking of being in the top 200 this week. I haven't greeted new members and asked about their dreams. I haven't read every post that comes my way, and I haven't left messages with everyone who has "followed" me. In fact, this is the first post that I have written in some time, and what is it about? Me. The rankings are fair.

There is so much that can be done . . . needs to be done, and none of it is difficult with the exception of time. I joined WA to learn more about managing my own website and the training here is invaluable from WA it self but mostly from fellow WA members. The $49 a month is a great bargain for anyone who has ever paid for someone else to manage a website for them. In fact, I have a website that I don't do anything with but pay a man $280 a year to keep it up on his server simply because he set it up and everything I have created since then is attached to it and I can't get him to release the site to me. Perhaps I could if I only knew more about how to do it? Even my Gmail account won't work if I don't pay his fee. Now that I mention this, I'll bet that someone here will give me excellent advice as to how I can regain control over my site and my life? The point is that WA is worth every penny.

Well . . . not that I am making excuses . . . but there is so much that I need to do outside of WA as well that takes about 15 hours of my day. Things like caring for my two young children, caring for my elderly mother and father-in-law (who at 90 yrs old is now has pneumonia and is in the hospital), helping my students prepare and get into university, as well as a myriad of other activities that pop up throughout the day. I confess that I devote only roughly one hour to WA each day - not all in one sitting - and am working to free up more time to reach out more to you.

Please be patient. You are so great and deserve more time. Keep up the good works! Even if no one comments on your work, you never know who you have touched and have helped who did not respond. You are precious and your work is valuable. Thank you for allowing me to be part of your life and for sharing ideas, and I look forward to reading and experiencing more as we grow here at WA.

Peace,

William

PS Here is a sample of something that I have done for one of my students. They needed an essay about divorce and could not write it themselves, so . . . you see . . . I don't sit idle? The essay was written for my student, but the story is my own.

What is it like to grow up with divorced parents?

Business Insider Journal (2017) states that, fifty percent of marriages end up in divorce throughout the world. My story falls within this fifty percent and, although divorce is usually not seen as a positive circumstance in life, in my case, it helped me understand who I was and who I wanted to become. In fact, living with divorced parents taught me to understand that we make the best decisions we can at the time we are making them and that things don’t always work out the way we plan or think they will, but that doesn’t mean that we are bad people or that the decisions we made are necessarily wrong. Sometimes, things not working out is an opportunity to re-evaluate who we are and what we want out of life, and that is exactly what I’ve done. I realize now that I must further my education to live the life I truly want to live.

Furthermore, before my parents divorced, I had always viewed our family as a set number of members, but now my perception of “family” has changed completely, and this has also fostered more empathy in the way I viewed other families. In addition, I used to be very close to my parents, but now I’ve begun finding more connection with my siblings. We have developed a common bond and can depend on one another. It’s like having a friend whom you know will always be there for you.

The change in relationships wasn’t just with the way I communicated with my own family though; the way I related to other people also was affected. I have become more clear and deliberate in how I receive others. I am more apt to give someone a chance at being my friend, and I do my best to be a loyal friend as well. It’s a big world and we can’t reach success alone.

Finally, but perhaps most importantly, the value I placed on school and education has also changed. As a young child, I thought that I would always be with my parents. It was so easy to depend on them for everything. Now I realize how silly I was and I understand that the more I know the better decisions I can make for myself and the better able I will be able to be of service to others.

Ultimately, having divorced parents wasn’t the end of me; it was just the beginning of who I am meant to be. Though it may be difficult at times, I am growing in the knowledge that my life and my destiny is mine to control; the more I learn, the more I will make decisions that will be of value to myself, my family and to society. My hope is that university life will give me a chance to learn from other people and to build relationships as well as to get the best education I can. No matter what I do, I want to do it better.