Self-Paced Personal Improvement

Hello, Dear Readers; I hope you are healthy and have had a pleasant week.

Back in April, I signed up for three continuing education courses online. Get Grants!, A to Z Grant Writing Part II - Beyond the Basics, and Project Management Fundamentals. All of them were self-paced, so I could read through the each course in its entirety right off the bat, and that helped me tailor my learning experience.

I find that self-paced classes are much more in keeping with my learning style; some days I don't feel like logging in to read at all, while on other days I feel like going through three chapters of material, and still others I feel like I've studied enough to take half of the quizzes for the course all in one go.

For these online classes, you have three months from the day you sign up to finish the course. As I was still under a stay-at-home order, it seemed like a way to use the time of both unemployment and obligatory sequestering as a way to improve myself. On Sunday I took the final exams for both Get Grants! and A to Z Grant Writing Part II - Beyond the Basics, and passed them both. On Monday, I took the final exam for Project Management Fundamentals and passed that as well. Three more certificates for my resume, and a nice feeling of accomplishment besides.

Since the stay-at-home order and then the safer-at-home order, I've made time to look for work, take those classes, play video games, watch an abundance of streaming video, and even started crocheting again, to both help with anxiety management and for me to do something with my hands while I'm job searching.

I'm working on a shawl that is turning out breathtakingly fugly, both due to the varigated yarn I'm using and the "haha, follow what pattern, I'll wing it as I go" attitude I've adopted, ensuring that the yarn colors don't stripe nicely together. While the color palette of orange/white/dark grey/dark blue/light blue looks great while it's in the skein, when there's giant patches of orange next to giant patches of light blue, it's actually getting to the point of "so ugly it's cute again", which was not my intention. I still fully intend to use it around the house when it is finished; the yarn is thick and soft and perfect for slightly chilly nights.

Sometimes the projects we use to improve our skills and ourselves aren't the prettiest when they're done, but they served a purpose. I'm using this shawl as a way to practice new stitches that I've been learning from YouTube tutorials, as well as practicing old stitches that I felt I was getting a bit rusty on. I'm working at my own pace, so the end date for the project is not set, but I don't feel rushed; even if I finish this project sooner rather than later, there is always more yarn and there are always some actual patterns for me to try. Pacing myself is important, because I need to know and respect my limits. Many people try to work on themselves in such a regimented way that they forget to be kind to themselves too, and that will inevitably lead to backlash.

Be good to yourselves, Dear Readers. There is enough going on outside that you may feel like you have to do certain things to get ahead, and that very well may be, but do not forget to give yourself a break too. Stay safe, wash your hands, and be kind.

-A.M.W.