As I reflect on 2014, I am amazed at all that has happened. In May, my son graduated from Butler County Community College with his Associate of Arts degree. In May, I began a 1 year sabbatical leave from Wichita State University. In September, I embarked on a sojourn to find myself as a writer in Florence, Italy that lasted for 3 months. In December, my daughter graduated from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas with a Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in Psychology and minoring in Communication.
This year has been a year of completion, a year of pondering, a year of strategic planning. It has been a year in which I claimed my identity as a writer. (You would think that given all I’ve written and published over my academic career, that would have been self-evident, but, at least to me, it was not. It is now.)
I have developed some passions this year that I will carry into next year, many of them finding voice here, through my blog.
Here are my insights and commitments for 2015:
Health, wellness, relationships, and end-of-life
- We do not talk about the messy parts of injury and illness in this culture. It might be helpful if we did, making those who go through such experiences feel less alone and isolated.
- We do not talk about the nuts and bolts of managing the end of a life. Negotiating relationships with family and friends, negotiating relationships with health care providers, negotiating relationships with insurance, the military, employers, pension plan providers. We don’t talk about all the time consuming sorting and organizing and paperwork, (Did I mention the paperwork?) necessary to nurture someone through the end of their life. We all die. Culturally we as a society and we as individuals are often unprepared for this eventuality.
- We struggle with the notion of death with dignity and who gets to make choices at end of life. Witness the media furor over Brittany Maynard’s decision to end her life when the symptoms from her brain tumor, originally diagnosed as a grade II Astrocytoma, was later diagnosed as the deadliest form of brain cancer, Glioblastoma Multiforme, a cancer that often leads to intense pain, debilitation and death within a year.
These are areas I will continue to write about in the coming year. I have plans for a manual for end-or-life caregivers on the nuts and bolts of helping a loved one and preparing for what comes after. It will take the form of a book with examples which illustrate questions, and worksheets to assist caregivers in negotiating difficult decisions and preparing for communication with critical people. It will be practical and easy to use.
Healthy relationships
- Culturally we too often make the end of a marriage a confrontational, adversarial situation when it doesn’t have to be.
- We redefine a relationship that ran its course as a mistake that never should have happened. This view disregards the positive aspects of the relationship before it was time to end it.
- We focus more on problems than mobilizing strengths when trying to deal with critical issues in families and relationships. This is often an energy sapping, limiting approach that keeps couples and families mired in the past and unable to build the future they desire.
I will continue to write about these issues as well. I ultimately plan to publish a book for the general public on building the relationship you want. Based on over 25 years of research with couples in romantic relationships, and my experiences working with actual couples in relationships, I believe I can offer a unique perspective on building relationships that meet partners’ needs and moving on should it be the healthy decision to do so.
I will also present a session on this topic at the Fifty Shades of Faith: Intimacy, Sexuality, and Spirituality Conference sponsored by the CAVU Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma on February 21. I am excited about the opportunity to bring this workshop to the public. Here’s a flyer for that event! All are welcome!
Hunger awareness:
- If we bring the power of our best and brightest to bear, I believe we can end hunger in our lifetimes.
I am honored to have been there at the start of the PUSH – Presidents United to Solve Hunger collaboration and at the launch event at the United Nations in December. I am committed to continuing and building the WSU Hunger Awareness Initiative. I am committed to providing my support to building local, state, national, and global context appropriate, hunger efforts. This month, I will complete a draft of a manual on how to start a statewide hunger dialogue that builds on our experiences in Kansas with the first one. I do this work as a Visiting Faculty Member at the Auburn University, Hunger Solutions Institute. I am honored to be affiliated with this amazing group of people.
Of course, I have other writing projects with wonderful collaborators that I am in the process of completing as well. As I look forward to the 8 months remaining on my sabbatical, I am excited and prepared.
On the personal front, I will continue to nurture my health and relationships, spending time with family and loved ones, scheduling adventures and get-aways, and working on remaining mindful and sustaining the calm I developed in Florence. While I will not elaborate on all that is included in my personal life here, it deserves much more than what appears here as a footnote to my professional life. Personal/professional balance remains one of my strongest commitments for 2015.
Onward!
Happy 2015!
Deborah's Deliberations 