Synchroblogging: “I’m Usually in a Good Mood or Being Myself When…”

Kelvin over at Moments In Time has started another round of Synchroblogging.  This is the second subject that student bloggers have been given to write about.  I look forward to reading the other entries.

This month’s topic?  “I’m Usually in a Good Mood or Being Myself When…”

I started TheUniversityBlog as a way to help others and return to an involvement in Higher Education.  It was just the start.  I got working in HE too.  I’ve made some great friends and contacts along the way.  The last 12 months have been almost entirely positive.

This gives me reason to be in a good mood most of the time.  For several years, I was perfectly happy, but by following a passion I find that happiness comes more easily and in an even greater volume.

So I’m generally in a good mood all day.  Woo!

To make matters even better, I’m now a Dad and it’s an amazing experience.  It’s totally changed my life, which is to be expected.  And because my son takes up so much of my time, timescales for everything else have altered dramatically.  But the great news is that I can still do just as much as before.  I simply needed to recognise what was necessary and fit it into a smaller allocation of time.  It’s easier than you think, even when free time is at a premium.  Can you think of a time when you suddenly had a heavy workload, yet you somehow discovered an extra hour (or three) in the day to get it done?

Through this year of major change, I owe a lot of it to being myself.

“Just be yourself.”  It’s a common piece of advice that I’m sure you’ve heard before.  Maybe you’ve dished that advice out to others in the past.  But what does it really mean?

There are many different ways to ‘be yourself’.  The way you act with mates on a night out is totally different to the way you behave with your family.  It’s different yet again to your actions when you’re at a part-time job.  Our responses to the situations we encounter alter depending on who is involved and what the circumstances are.

But being yourself isn’t the same as being one-dimensional or obvious.  Being yourself is about responding as an individual.  If you try to follow an idea that doesn’t come naturally to you, chances are you’ll make mistakes and find an outcome that you didn’t want.

It’s easy to blame others when you don’t remember to be yourself.  But what’s the point in that?  Making your own decisions certainly means you have to blame yourself once in a while…but there’s no harm in failing if you made your own decision in the first place.  You’ll learn for next time.  Doing what other people tell you to do, or acting the way you think others want you to act, won’t help you learn half as much.

To sum up:

  • I’m usually in a good mood when I’m being myself
  • I’m usually being myself when I’m in a good mood

Which suggests that all I need to do is stave off a bad mood.  As things stand, I’m pretty confident.  So long as nothing bugs me…

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Other sites participating on Synchroblogging:

3 comments

  1. Pingback: My Round-Up of Synchroblog #2 « Don’t Stop Believin’

  2. You have so much going on that allows you to be in a good mood. You even have a child! That’s awesome, Martin. I do like the fact that you mention the common advice of “just be yourself.” It’s known to mankind all over to “just be yourself.” Very good post, buddy.

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