#reverb10 - Days 1 - 7

 I was reading a blog by Shauna (a fellow tweeter, blogger and immigrant to Dunfermline) today and what she was doing really piqued my interest. Shauna is taking part (along with around 2650 other people) in #reverb10. This personal challenge lasts for the month of December and it basically provides inspiration for a little 'end of year navel-gazing' to quote my introducer to the project. 


Every day (and I realise that starting this on the 7th I'm a bit late to the party) a prompt is published on the #reverb10 website. These prompts have all been provided by published authors and are intended to set you thinking on what has passed in the previous year and what is to come in the year ahead. Participants then record their thoughts however they choose - publicly in a blog or tweet, or privately in a journal or wherever you fancy really.


I've been feeling the need for more blogging but fancied a change from my usual accounts of my recent activities. This has certainly been an interesting year for me (and 2011 promises to be just as life-changing) and a bit of reflection seems like a good idea.


I'm going to try and write my thoughts on the prompts from the first 7 days as briefly as I can in this post and then for the rest of the month do a daily post on each prompt. I'm not promising I'll post every day, or respond to every prompt - but then I don't need to; as it says on the #reverb10 website:


What happens if I don’t answer EVERY prompt? 
You are turned into a pumpkin. (Kidding. Answer as many as you want.)

Basically, I'm just going to have a go...

December 1 - One Word. 

Encapsulate the year 2010 in one word. Explain why you’re choosing that word. Now, imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2011 for you? (Author: Gwen Bell)

One word? Now that's tricky. I think I'm going to go with Unknown. 2010 was a big year for me. I didn't know how I was going to feel about embarking on a teaching career or even how I would cope with the rest of my PGDE and the first third of my probationary year. I didn't know that I would end up going to America for three weeks by myself and having an amazing time. And I certainly didn't know that half way through the year I would find a man to love, who my some miracle would love me back. So although at the start of 2010 I thought I had a plan, I had no idea things would turn out the way they did. I've still got a ways to go to make it to the end of my probationary year and become a fully registered teacher, hopefully one with a job, but at least now I've got someone by my side to support me all the way.

December 2 - Writing.

What do you do each day that doesn’t contribute to your writing — and can you eliminate it? (Author: Leo Babauta)

This is a bit of a random one for me, because I'm not really (or in any sense) a writer. But as it says in the #reverb10 FAQ's: "What if I don’t like a prompt? Believe it or not, it happens! If you don’t like a topic, feel free to change it to suit you." So what I'm going to do here is simply say that I enjoy blogging and I haven't done it for ages. I managed to write a fair few blog posts throughout the year, and I'm glad I managed to keep up a record of my trip to the USA but I'd like to blog more about 'stuff'; ideas and issues, rather than blow by blow accounts of what I've been up to. And hopefully that way, if my blog is stumbled upon by any of my pupils or colleagues then there won't be anything too personal that I don't want them to find.

December 3 – Moment.

Pick one moment during which you felt most alive this year. Describe it in vivid detail (texture, smells, voices, noises, colors). (Author: Ali Edwards)

I'm not actually going to do this here - but the moment was at the top of the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. I wrote a bit about it in my blog at the time if you want to read more. If there was one place on my trip that I could go back to and take the boy with me, this would be it.

December 4 – Wonder.

How did you cultivate a sense of wonder in your life this year? (Author: Jeffrey Davis)

See above! And, I don't want this whole project, challenge, whatever you want to call it, to become a month of me going 'Ooh, I met a boy and now my life is amazing..' But that said, by giving up a little bit of my long-standing independence and sharing my life and a lot of my experiences with someone else, I've started to see wonder in the world, and in my life, where I simply never noticed it before. And it's frickin' awesome!

December 5 – Let Go.

 What (or whom) did you let go of this year? Why? (Author: Alice Bradley)

Hmm, there seems to be a pattern here. Again; see above. I gave up a bit of my independence in exchange for the love and support of someone else, and it's increased the fun and laughs and happiness in my  life tenfold. Long may it continue.

December 6 – Make.

(Author: Gretchen Rubin)

The last thing I made that wasn't some boring crap for work? With all this snow we've been having, you'd think I'd've made a snowman, but no. Let me think...well, I made a beef stew in the slow cooker last night so I've got a week's worth of delicious, healthy, warming lunches for school this week. But in terms of making something permanent, something I can keep, I can't remember the last thing I made. And that makes me a bit sad. I'm a pretty practical person, I like making stuff but lately there just don't seem to have been enough hours in the day. Perhaps if Bejeweled on my iPhone wasn't sucking time from me like there was no tomorrow then maybe I'd get a bit more done. In fact, next time I'm tempted to pick up the phone for a quick (which usually means at least 30 minute) game, I'm going to reach for my knitting instead. I can finally finish the belt for the cardigan I finished over a year ago!

December 7 – Community

Prompt: Community. Where have you discovered community, online or otherwise, in 2010? What community would you like to join, create or more deeply connect with in 2011? (Author: Cali Harris)

I would say I have discovered more of the Twitter community in 2010, despite the fact that in the last few months at least I have probably been using it less than before. There are now a few people I have met through online communities that I know consider my friends and I was luckily enough to spend some time with some of them in the real world this year - particularly Shannon and Liza in America. Then there are an even fewer people that I have met through online communities who I feel incredibly lucky to have met and who I now count amongst the very small number of my closest friends.


A new community that I have become a small part of in 2010 is that of my school, and it is definitely one that I want to become a bigger part of in 2011. It's something that I need to work at; it's a big school and it isn't always easy to connect with others outside the immediate circle of my own department. But by continuing to talk to people, by volunteering to help at school discos and the like, I can slowly become a more familiar face, and feel more connected with the community I am a part of every day.




So there we go....that's me all caught up with the first 7 days. The posts from now on, though hopefully daily, should be in much more manageable chunks. I'm intrigued to find out what the other prompts will be, and what else I'll be reflecting on before the year is out.