Goals

“Not all those who wander are lost” -J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

I believe the above quote holds more value now that I am taking the time to rethink my brand as a student affairs professional and as a person. My current supervisor read my goals and announced that we had a lot of work to do recently. Obviously it was time I looked at that webpage again in order to see what it was I was missing from what I thought would be good goals in the past. I began to realize that I inadvertently made it a goal to change who I was.

Goals change. I have updated these goals to be a little more sensible.

1. Be Shane
   Be it because of professionalism, fear of social repercussions, or just because I did not know who I was a large portion of my life has been spent fulfilling the expectations set by outside forces. I fell into the line that society demanded I be and I hid parts of myself. I want to reclaim the horcruxes…. I mean pieces of myself that I had to bury. I want to be myself again, whoever that might be.
2. Be Sensible
   I see the world through a lens of logic, rationality, productivity, and critical thought. A part of being Shane is to embrace what I excel at. I may never be able to paint or create beautiful artwork, but I sure can write a five to ten page proposal indicating the thirteen ways an organization can improve itself.
3. Go Up
   My single greatest accomplishment has been my education. I have always excelled at school, but school was not just a place where I was forced to attend; it was also my release from home. Schools to me represent a place where I am able to be myself (for the most part, see goal #1) and find a niche of people who took it upon themselves to stick with me as I struggled through the problems I would and could not discuss anywhere. Colleges and Universities represent, for me, the ability to grow. I want to rise through the ranks because there is still so much work that needs to be done and I think that I may be able to make a difference somewhere, somehow.