Are you ready? It starts TOMORROW!
You can find all the details here: http://seejanewritebham.com/2014/10/its-time-to-bloglikecrazy/
See you tomorrow. 🙂
Blog Like Crazy is coming!
categories: bloglikecrazy
I want to be a better friend to you
categories: Life
With the sudden death of a dear friend and an even more amazing husband, father, and entrepreneur, I’ve realized that my friendships lack the quality they should. Growing up, I suffered from serious FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) and befriended every person within reach so I would always be included and invited. As the years have passed, I’ve learned to lessen my grip on always having to be involved though I still suffer from it more than I’d like. I’m also extremely nosy, but that’s a post for another time.
Now I have a trillion wonderful friends that I see or talk to in real life very little. Most of our interactions are, of course, via social media and email now. When we do get together it’s just playing catch up on the latest happenings in our lives. While I enjoy getting to catch up, I realize our conversations lack substance many times. They’re “superficial” to put it bluntly. I love being the cheerleader for my friends and raving about their recent accomplishments and milestones, but where are the real talks? I’m to blame as I always just ask what’s new with them. Why don’t I ask the harder questions? Why don’t we talk philosophy, religion, politics, life experiences? I’m not 100% certain what I want to ask or what we should discuss, but I do know it’s more than just what we did last weekend or our recent move. Don’t get me wrong, I love catching friends up on our lives and hearing about theirs, but where are the 4 hour conversations about life? When did we get too busy to waste an afternoon just waxing poetic with those we love about the world?
So be ready because the next time I see you, it may be a lot more than “What have you been up to lately?”
Girls, the time is now.
categories: women
I was recently interviewed about being a woman in the technology sector, namely challenges I faced getting to where I am and continue to face. This isn’t the first time I’ve had the question; people are fascinated that I’m the director of IT for an advertising and technology company. It wasn’t an easy road, but it wasn’t as hard as people think. I studied hard, worked harder, and continued to move up in positions throughout my career because I proved myself.
My biggest disappointment with the technology sector these days is that there aren’t enough of us in it. By us, I mean women. Many times over the years I was the only female at the table in a room with 10 or more men. It took a while to learn I was there because I earned it and my contributions are important. I was intimidated at first, painfully quiet during discussions. The more meetings I went to, however, the more I realized some things were missing from the conversation and that was my cue.
These days I’m more than comfortable being the only woman at the table, leaning in, learning, and sharing my knowledge. I am grateful I have been in more than one position to pay it forward and hire equally qualified and smart women in the field. The one question I always get asked is what advice would I give girls considering technology as a career. My answer is, “Don’t give up. Stick with it, even when you are singled out or made to feel inferior. It is a predominantly male field, but it won’t always be like that with our brains and determination. Girls, the time is now to start taking over the tech industry!”
My first Wordless Wednesday
categories: wordless wednesday
It’s not always rainbows and butterflies
categories: depression
The news of Robin Williams’ death made me gasp loudly when I read the alert come across my feed. Everyone knows I’m an, um, animated person and I visibly (and audibly) react to a lot of things, especially shocking news. It’s strange to me that I reacted so strongly to the death of someone I didn’t know, but I think it was the story behind the death that struck me.
I’ve seen hundreds of posts, tweets, and stories about depression since yesterday. Isn’t it interesting that everyone and their mothers is sharing information on depression resources and help now? Where were these thousands of shares a week ago? I’m guilty of the same thing – we’re a “what’s hot now” society and jump on the bandwagon. Granted, this bandwagon is for a good reason, but still…the bandwagon will leave the station in a few weeks and we’ll be back to our “normal” until something else happens. It’s the same with almost every issue or disease depending on the day or time – guns, mental and physical diseases, abuse, child obesity, the environment, rape, homelessness, you name it…we’re on it. While it’s a hot topic in social media.
I know you can’t spend every waking minute raising awareness for the issues that you believe in, but please don’t be so fair weathered that you’re only an advocate when it seems like the right time or popular. Speaking from experience, depression – like so many other diseases – is a 24/7, year-round illness that people live with. Share your story. Share your victories. Share your failures. Share yourself and help someone…not just today.