A641.7.3.RB
Appreciating Your “Real Self”
In
this exercise I was asked to examine myself introspectively. I had a really good time with this exercise.
I
have always liked myself. If I was asked
to describe myself I would say that I am outgoing, athletic, Type-A, sarcastic,
funny, narcissistic, and an intelligent man.
I am an excellent cook and can play the guitar. However, my passion is my family. I always put them above everything including
myself. My health, occupation and education
always take second place to my family. I
have a wife, three adult children and two grandchildren. They are the center of my universe.
So,
as I looked through my photo library, most of the pictures were of food that I
have cooked, my dogs and my grandchildren.
Here are some pictures.
These
are some of my favorite things. “Raindrops
on roses and whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and warm woolen
mittens, brown paper packages tied up with string, these are a few of my
favorite things.”
So, I
completed my “lifeline” and “rhythms of my career” activities Wow! I really have had a crazy life but a pretty
steady career path. I was born April 20,
1964 in Boston, Massachusetts. My
parents were divorced when I was six. My
mother decided to move back to her home state of West Virginia when I was eight
and she swiftly remarried. My two
brothers and I split our time between WV and MA over the course of the next
decade. At one point we lived with our
fraternal grandparents for two full years but for the most part, we lived with
my mother in WV and spent our summers in MA.
My
mother moved to Colorado in 1980. My
brothers went with her and our stepfather and attended school but continued to
spend our summers in MA.
I
became a young father in the fall of 1982.
My eldest son was born on October 31st. Trying to be responsible, I joined the Army and
also graduated from High School in December of 1982. Still trying to be responsible, I married the
mother of my child on June 16, 1983, the day after I graduated from Army
Training. Over the course of
relationship, we lived in Tacoma, WA, Germany and El Paso, TX. We had our second son on July 21, 1985 however
we divorced February 14, 1992.
I
remarried in 1992 and that relationship lasted until 1997. We had no children. I remarried in 1998. My third wife gave me my one and only
daughter who is going to be 18 in May. I
thought that this was my life partner but we divorced about a year after I
retired from the Army in 2010.
My
younger brother passed away from cancer on April 14, 2001 at the age of
35. He left behind a wife and three
children.
While
in the Army, I achieved the rank of Master Sergeant (E-8), graduated Magna Cum
Laude with a BSBA and completed my MBA with a GPA 0f 3.36 right before I
retired. I fought in two wars against
terrorism and traveled the globe. I had an awesome career.
I
retired from the Army on March 31, 2010 after over 27 years. My first civilian job was as a college
recruiter but resigned to take a six-figure position with a major defense
contractor. Sadly, I was laid off after
seven months. This was also the time
that I met my current wife. During this
period in my life, I found my niche and became a Junior Reserve Officer
Training Corps instructor. I have been
in this current occupation since August of 2011.
My
wife and I moved to Florida (her home state) in July of 2015. In November of 2015, I decided to build on my
education by attending ERAU to acquire an MS in leadership. I am currently still a student and have three
classes until I graduate. It has been a
mostly gratifying experience with only few exceptions.
So,
my lifeline currently ends now. My
future is still an open book. I plan on
retiring from teaching in 2022. What I
would really like to do, however, is to open my own restaurant. I would actually leave my current occupation
to achieve this goal/vision. Let’s see
how that pans out. Stay tuned.
In my
life and work transitions, the biggest transitions have been in my personal life. As described above, I have been married four
times. I’m not going for a record and
feel that I have finally I found my forever life partner. With regards to work, other than being laid
off from what I thought was my dream job, I have had very few transitions. I spent 27 years in the Army, a little over a
year in the public/private sector and six years as a school teacher.
Socially,
I am a “social butterfly”. I am usually
the unintentional life of the party. I
have never met a stranger and have never been shy. I will talk to anyone in public, or in
private. I also have no filter. I say what is on my mind. I point out everything but always do it with
humor. It actually has never affected me
in my professional or personal life. I
feel that this is a gift.
My social
web is gigantic. My true friends were
established over the course of my almost three decade career in the Army. I really have no idea of how many people are
in my circle but I have 712 friends on Facebook, 558 followers on Instagram and
109 followers on Twitter. I currently
work with 166 teachers. I have hundreds
of surviving family members. I am in
contact with the majority of these people.
The majority of these people share the same opinions and morals as I but
there are a few that disagree with my views.
However, at the end of the day, we never part at odds.
So, let’s
drill a little deeper into Lou. I am one
of the most empathetic people my wife has ever met. At least she says so. There has been several occasions where my
wife and I have been sitting on the couch and my wife will say, “Are you crying?” This usually happens when I am watching
something that touches my heart, breaks my heart, is super happy or is super
sad. I have cried watching everything
from “The Blind Side” to “Snoopy, Come Home”.
Jeez! I am one mushy dude. That leads me to “a letter from my heart”. I honestly cannot think of anyone that has
shaped me other than my children. The
first time I held them, smelled them, kissed them and touched them has changed
everything about me. When my eldest was
born, I was born. This first time he
wrapped his little hand around one of my fingers, I was made complete. His first word, his first step, his first
tooth, his first accomplishment made me who I am. Happily, I was able to build on this
experience two more times with my children.
I
feel that my strengths are have been described in this blog, as is how others
see me.
I
feel that this exercise has given me an opportunity to see these things in
me that I do not normally identify. It gave me the ability to really
take a personal inventory of myself and if I had time, I honestly could have
written pages and pages!
Reference
McKee, A., Boyatzis, R., Johnston, F. (2008). Becoming a resonant leader. Harvard Business Press: Boston, MA
