Once again, I have neglected my blog. I had intended to post my 100 days of Ukulele progress on this site, but found it too cumbersome to post on the blog, youtube and facebook. For the most part, I have loved participating in the challenge and have learned so many new things, but from time to time I feel a little overwhelmed. Perhaps I have been trying to accomplish too many things at once. I had been very confident that I had overcome my “chemo brain”, but have found my ability to multitask is still limited when my focus is pulled in too many directions. My “relapse” began when I had the bright idea to attempt to get a motorcycle license. My son is planning to buy a Vespa scooter, and I decided to take the class with him. 4.5 hour into the first 5 hour session on the bike, I was mentally and physically exhausted. My ability to mentaly process and quickly execute multi step directions in a short period of time was pushed to the limit. I dropped out of the class and beat myself up the rest of the day. I was so disappointed in being unable to complete what I had set out to do, that I wallowed in self pity for the rest of the day. Now please realize that learning to ride a motorcycle was never on my radar as anything I ever had a desire to do, so why was I so crushed by my failure? It was just the stark reality that my brain and body are not capable of my “expectations” '. Now as I continue on my ukulele adventure, I occasionally feel the strain of posting something somewhat good everyday. Finding the balance between pushing to learn new things beyond my skill level, while trying to perfect my basic skills has been challenging. Most days I love playing, but some days my joy is lost in the pressure to post, so it is time to step back and play for the love of it again, and stop expecting so much of myself. (you may have noticed that i am my own worst enemy and harshest critic) I have had the privilege of being on WGN radio’s John Williams show every week sharing my 100 day challenge. Playing live on the radio was a little intimidating, but not all that stressful. I love my ukulele, but am relieved that this challenge is nearly over! I am looking forward to being able to devote most of my energy to working on fundraising for the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition. I am on the planning committee and am captaining the Northwestern Medicine: Better Together in Teal team. As usual, I am setting a lofty goal and hope to raise at least $10,000 by building a team. Northwestern has had a team for the last several years that has had limited success in fundraising, but I am determined to make this team a HUGE success. Over the last two years of my participation in the fundraiser I have raised over $9,000 with the generous donations from friends, family and strangers, but I have been essentially a team of one, as I have had limited success in engaging anyone else to actively raise money outside of their own donations. I am hoping that I will be able to engage Northwestern staff and patients and perhaps my own family and friends into actively participating in some of my ideas! This year the NOCC will be celebrating its 25th anniversary and will be hosting the first in person event since that pandemic began on October 15 at Cantigny Park in Wheaton. Registration will open any day now and I am eager to share team information with friends, family and welcome Northwestern patients and staff. Congratulations if you have made it to the end of this long winded post. The moral of this story is that goals are not always achievable, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn't shoot for the stars! I am still a tough cookie even though I crumble from time to time! It's time for the WABI SABI spirit to take over and find the beauty in imperfection! |
AuthorBarb Schlatter Archives
May 2022
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