ARGH! VISIONING!

During my first quarter being president, I lost myself. I forgot how to be Kristyn, what Kristyn needs and wants, and why Kristyn desired so badly to be president in the first place. I am beginning to find myself again so my vision is still a work in progress- its a "me" overhaul :) hence the ridiculous title.

My mission in life is to cultivate faith, hope, and love in myself as well as all those who have contact with me. These three words can be given meaning in many different ways, all of which are meant to be shared. That being said, I have been searching for an answer as to why I want to be a doctor so badly and why nothing else would satisfy my life goal. The answer lies first within love. I believe that there is no greater gift in this world than to love with your entirety and be loved in return. I will love each of my patients, I have no doubt. I want them to be able to love their life enough to truly grasp each day as if the world were theirs; to do this, I dedicate myself to let my lyre send forth the chords of love, unselfishness, and sincerity in hopes that one person loving them simply for the fact that they are themselves will be enough to allow them to continue their life journey.

Hope is a concept that the healthcare world is familiar with. We hope that all will go well and that we can go about our day saving lives and all of that jazz. However, I believe that hope goes beyond this sort of simplistic concept of wondering if our wishes will come true. Hope is the driving force behind the pursuit of our dreams because it defines our possibility. If you have no hope, possibility is limited. If you have an abundance of hope, you may be knocked down a time or two but you will be able to stand up a stronger person and press on toward true achievement. I have hope that I will have the strength to endure medical school, to be a mom and raise a family in a loving environment, and to be genuinely happy in all of my endeavors. I will strike on the lyre of the universe only the notes of happiness, of joy, of peace to extend to each my hope for a better world.

To me, faith is not about religion. In fact, I am not sure where I stand when it comes to religion. I do believe in spirituality and the spirit inside of myself. Faith is the basis for both hope and love; if you have faith in yourself or in the process, I believe that what is meant to be will work itself out. I sometimes have a hard time with faith, which therefore affects my ability to love and hope to my full potential. I want answers to all of my questions. I'm not very patient and I am afraid of making a wrong decision that will lead to failure which by the way i am TERRIFIED of. In order to achieve my life mission I know that I must work through this fear so as to spread my philosophy on to others. I will continue to see beauty even in the common things of life and try to remember that everything doesn't have to go perfectly to be perfect for me.

Owning it: Back to the Beginning.

I'm asking you to own it.

Taking ownership for "the process" first requires a deeper understanding for the process itself as well as respect for other members of any organization and executive board. This is the first step towards collaboration, which is a concept that is far more complex than cooperation or compromise. The reason why collaboration is so difficult to achieve in diverse groups initially is because power takes precedent over purpose. What I mean by this is that in young leaders, a sense of importance in their role is derived from being powerful, being heard, and, usually, being right. These personal projections are a direct result of the fact that leaders typically bring an agenda to the group; the agenda is most likely valid and in most cases admirable, but will not lead to collaboration because it seems to ignore the central theme of collaboration- thinking and working through issues in a group effort toward change. One must come to the table with an open mind AND open heart and ask questions defined by our discussion last week: "what do you want it to look like" versus "how do you want it to go". True collaboration presents many challenges on my board because everyone has so much passion for their position, but little knowledge of the process that brings us together as a cohesive and functioning group. Voices must be given to those that need empowered and other voices sometimes must be near silenced to allow for each member to have an opportunity to feel as though they are capable of buying into decisions as well as making difficult decisions. As a leader, I must work to make each group member feel credible such that they actually will BE credible to the chapter while also generating buy in to active participation. It seems so simple when I type it out. However, the root of the problem is that people sometimes cannot move past their own agendas and see collaboration for what it is, instead of confusing it with other less worthy "c" words like compromise or, strangely enough, control. Visioning based upon common purpose (another great C word!) acts to bridge the gap between individual and highly effective board/group and at the heart of common purpose lies respect and a deep understanding of values that the organization holds as its own.

Common purpose is the underlying factor that develops more the more meaningful dialog mentioned. For fraternities and sororities, this should be simple, right? We all know our ritual, our creed, our motto. Our founders basically handed us purpose on a silver platter. Do we really get it though? Do our members REALLY understand why they were drawn to our organization besides the fact that we like the same TV shows? 


First, we must ask ourselves why do we exist. Most greek organizations were founded because there was a need that was not being met or because justice was not being served in society. For example, Alpha Chi Omega was founded because women were not yet highly regarded in higher education and the passion that these women had for music was pushed aside. They refused to be silenced in the pursuit of their true sense of self that came from the fine arts; Olive  (everyones favorite founder) and others took it upon themselves to create an environment where they could flourish as one AND as seven powerful women under a common interest that manifested as love. Tell me that collaboration is harder now than it was then. I think not with all of our resumes filled to the brim with leadership conferences! 


I have decided to start defining something in my LITBlog that I plan to achieve at either my board meeting or chapter. 

This week I commit to taking it back to our beginnings. How does our vision for the chapter align with the vision of our founders? Do our actions/the way we have been treating each other REALLY show that we have a true sense of our values? 

 

Citizenship

I think that when we are young, citizenship is a concept that we feel entitled to. Afterall, we are American citizens upon birth under the law of our country. As I have gotten older, I have realized that citizenship in a figurative sense is not a guarantee; it requires active participation in the community for not only the benefit of others, but for the benefit of ourselves. We must share a piece of our individuality with the community while at the same time allowing the concept of citizenship to BE us and to consume us in order to be whole in the midst of our individual parts. I think that the members of my chapter are moving toward the right way to think about citizenship. We have a philanthropy, we have a service requirement, we actively participate in the greek community and Ohio State community..the list goes on. However, I think what a lot of people miss amongst all of this activity is the fact that each of these events are not just made to be "mandatory" without reason. People go, they participate, and then they leave knowing that we are donating X amount of dollars or that they are 5 hours closer to their service requirement. 

Our involvement is aimed to make us better, more well rounded women but we cannot be 100% successful if we are just going through the motions. There needs to be a level of understanding beyond what is "required" in order for women to begin to be able to think of citizenship as a whole in a different way. We have the single order changes in place--how are we going to translate this to a second order change that actually begins to address the root of the issue?