growing pains

Well, it seems I'm down to just one post a month. At least it's for good reason. Working on this graduate project is sucking every last bit of extra energy I have. Keeping up with a 15 month old, school, and full-time work leaves about 10 minutes every day to play my new addiction, Scrabulous on Facebook. (And if you're a fan, feel free to start a game with me - I'm always looking for distractions!)

More important, though, I'm discovering, is the opportunity to take what I have learned over the last 4-5 years about organizational development and apply it to a consulting project. I can't disclose the details of the project... yet. I hope to someday. But it is incredibly fascinating to apply OD theory to this project. And to finally have a good reason to read the literature I've wanted to read.

But it is painful. It's painful to take my daughter to daycare while I sit at home on my Mac at the dining room table pecking away at a 30+ page proposal. It's painful to look at the living room strewn with toys. It's painful to refuse opportunities offered to me so that I can finish school. It's painful to have to schedule a date with my husband weeks in advance. It's painful to not spend the afternoon at the park. It's painful not to spend Sunday afternoon cooking dinner, instead picking up a rotisserie chicken at the grocery store.

I hope the pain is worth it. I don't know yet that I'm going to do anything specific with this degree - like becoming an OD consultant. I've found the curriculum to be incredibly useful in everyday work. I think I'm becoming a more effective team leader, boss, employee, association executive, with my OD skills. Everything leads to something, that's for sure.

But I sure can't wait for an afternoon at the park, followed by a big homemade lasagna dinner. Soon.