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Zoom in, Zoom out

Problem solving is an important part of life. Each time we are presented with a problem, the first decision to be made is, Do we want to solve the problem or not?

We need to come up with a plan. Depending on the problem/issue at hand we have to decide is it better for me to zoom in on the problem, that is to make it a priority, look at the alternatives closely and develop a plan of attack, or zoom out, which would be to take a step back, look at the problem from afar, or even put it on hold, before thinking about a way to solve it.

My initial reaction to problems is to jump right in and try to solve them right away. This is what I want to do when left with a technology problem that needs fixing such as my computer is frozen, or my wife can’t access her email, or I have to write a piece for this blog by today and have no clue what to write about. The difficulty with this approach is sometimes the time is not available for me to work on the problem, or the other person having the problem just wanted to inform me about it with no expectation of it be solved by me, or by trying to solve the problem numerous other problems are created that would not have cropped up at all if I hadn’t tried to fix it in the first place.

The other solution is to take a step back. Try to think about what is the real issue? Does it have to be solved immediately? What would happen if I put off resolving it? This requires some introspection and also time to think through possible consequences. These are questions like what am I going to eat tonight? Are we going to go on vacation this year? I have a day off, so how should I/we plan our day? In these scenarios zooming out and getting a global perspective on the situation sometimes makes for better, more thought out actions. The drawback is that these types of actions can also create a standstill in which no solution is ever found or attempted due to procrastination or forgetfulness.

Of course, whether you choose to zoom in to a problem or zoom out of a problem is dependent on the problem at hand. It would be nice if we could solve all our life’s problems by making all of the right choices and only make changes that turn out for the better.  But in reality that’s not going to happen. That’s what life is all about. All the choices we make, whether right or wrong, lead us to be better at what we do and who we are. At least that is the hope.

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And by the way, Z is also for Zero. This being the end of April means there are no more daily blog entries I have to post to meet the A to Z Blog Challenge. That doesn’t mean I won’t keep writing, just not as frequently, at least not until April, 2017 when maybe I’ll try this again. I’ll keep you posted.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

When I was about 7 years old, I made a card for my mother for Mother’s Day. Unlike nowadays where teachers have their students create all of these elaborate cards or presents for their mothers, I did this on my own. It was just a folded piece of drawing paper with a drawing of a flower on which I wrote a poem:

There’ll never be another
Of my great mother
I love her night and day
And even when she’s far away.

It’s enough of an image in my brain, that I have never forgotten it. Whether it was the praise I got for the poem or just the enjoyment I got out of writing it, it set the course for what career I wanted to have. When asked “What do you want to be when you grow up?” my answer at that early age was, “I want to be a writer.”

Of course, that changed over time as I grew older to “I want to be an engineer” and “I want to be a teacher”, which I eventually became, but deep down the thought of being a published writer has always been a goal of mine.

I wrote a blog post in 2007 of some of the writing I did in junior high school and high school that I shared with my teachers but never got back http://www.hdhstory.net/Storyblog/?p=37. That was somewhat frustrating since I would love to know what I wrote like. I assume it was better writing than my mother’s day poem.

I also wrote a number of “What would happen if” scenarios, such as if my father became president, or what would happen at a certain place where I was employed would allow me to play with their equipment (you wouldn’t want to be there.)

As I’ve written before I wrote self-reflective journals all through my 33 years of teaching. I recently found an old writer’s notebook of mine that I kept from the days before I digitized everything. Someday I will have to transcribe some of that writing and add it to my blog. Here are two pieces that I wrote in 2000 at an institute for teachers of the gifted and talented I attended (Confratute) . These might be something I would have written during Quiet Time if I had been in school (see http://www.hdhstory.net/Storyblog/?p=584)

A Crystal Breeze
Icicles cover the branches of trees
On a Winter’s day.
The wind rustling through the branches
Creates a sound like a crystal wind chime.

And then haiku –

Tree Cracks
A barren crevice
Magnified it shows us life
Alive before all

Now I continue writing as part of my blog. And even though I have had a few pieces of writing printed in newspaper and journals, I still dream that someday a longer piece of mine will be published in book or e-book form. I was impressed when I decided to print out all of my blog posts and put them in a binder. Since starting my blog in 2006 I’ve written over 200 pages of writing. I’ve been reading a number of old posts to connect to the writing for this A to Z Blog Challenge. I think I’ve really grown as a writer. When I can attend, I do meet with a Writer’s group once a month to write more.

Nowadays when answering the question, “What do I want to be when I grow up?” I have two answers. The first is, “Older” which I would think everyone aspires to, and the second is, “I want to be a writer.” I guess some things never change.