#DigiWriMo who am I, my alternative CV

An answer to the first DigiWriMo challenge: to create an alternative CV. It is quite a challenge to view myself through a non-professional, personal looking glass. Who is the generic me? Who is the me that people might get as a colleague, friend, peer?

I am a wanderer at midpoint in life (if life proofs to be kind to me and permits me some extra decades). As you can see in the previous sentence, if I move forward two steps, I tend to reflect on the steps taken and add question marks. Especially if I am in a state of exploration. At this point, I am exploring to find a new challenge in professional life. I am writing up a thesis on self-directed learning in FutureLearn courses, while contemplating a book on ‘a feeling of the future in the now’.

The me in words might be: typing (the motion is as soothing as the message it – sometimes – becomes), technology, exchanging knowledge, books, parenting, learning, and since birth using a feminist window to see the world … Or wait, most of all I am hoping for a more collaborative, peaceful world where everyone can be a nomad or sedentary purely based on their own preferences, not necessities. I guess I am a believer in dreams and change to attain enlightenment. This means that if I daydream, I think about the concept of time, the future, and the possible purpose of organic algorithms in the universe. I find answers to these dwellings in art, astronomy, and interactions. I know the world in its present and past state, but to me – in my wildest dreams - there is more to us humans then meets the news.  

Loving action and challenge

I need multiple actions to have the feeling that I am doing something (building mobile learning options across various expensive as well asrelatively cheap mobile devices, playing in a samba band while reviewing movies). Doing something is a state of being  I prefer best, or flipping the known to explore how far it can be stretched into other existing options (that flipped classroom of life). I always prefer doing something, but I frequently did/do nothing in a very passionate, consistent way as well.

As a more active-oriented person, I get excited by a challenge. As a kid I loved biking, most of the time leisurely, at reasonable pace, but every time I would encounter an old, rocky road/street I would turn up my speed and immediately launch bike-fighting mode - blasting off to tackle the rough road with amazing speed! *last sentence is part of an internal voice which sounds like a lion's roar*. Which probably is one of the sources for being a lifelong activist (which type is under constant debate at home, we hastle who is the mostest, I would say feminism first, LGBT second).

The same is true for finding a new professional opportunity: suddenly I will get fired up… it is only a matter of finding that point where I get ignited and decide This Is What I WILL DO, no matter what! Regular routes - either by means of getting educated or earning money - never seem to have appealed to me, it was always a sudden trigger, a gut feeling that triggered passion to come forward and which drove me forward with all the energy that is inside of me.

I love those moments of complete, focused energy. This drive pushes me out of my comfort-zone with amazing, and non-reflective ease... when this passion hits me, I mount my little pony and charge forward "to change the world for ever!" Ah, passion liberates.  

Loyal though not a frequent digital/IRL friend

My social life seems to be less conventional than most (but all comparisons rest on its starting point, so I could easily change my point of view, just by turning the looking glass). My life is half digital, half face-to-face. I have long-term friends, but I see them infrequently. I pledge allegiance to my friends (not that they know this per se, I think). If someone puts them in harm’s way, I get into protective mode immediately. I am protective to those I love, as I see them as good human beings. So what does ‘good’ mean to me? Good is being open minded, tolerating other points of view, being peaceful in physical presence towards others, not necessarily agreeing, but searching for a common ground to build upon, move forward, not withstanding the occasional brawl I guess. 

Media to contemplate self

Nothing is as revealing as watching yourself in an informal video. At this point in time I dare to say that what you see is what you get. I am me, with people, on stage, in an elevator, in or out of country, or buying stuff in a shop. A Flemish-English enthusiast who ad-libs while thinking and loves technologies, time and evolution.