About a year ago I blogged about me taking over as Jsoc co-Chair and how exciting it was taking responsibility for other things than just my uni work. A year has now gone and my year is over. My first reaction to it was that it was a relief but the more I think about it the more I realise how much I will actually miss it.
Being the chair for a society with about 50 members and events on weekly basis your life easily gets taken over by the society instead of Uni. Last term I managed to handle it quite well but running up to the charity ball (which was yesterday) it felt like I didn't have time for anything else. This blogpost isn't meant to be an emotional post about how much I'll miss it but it is worth mentioning that it as been a good year. However, I would rather try to point out what this year has given me. Because of me being to lazy I am going to do this in bullet points because that way I don't really have to think about the structure.
1. Working with friends is never easy regardless how much you like them. It doesn't matter how good you work together or how well you know each other. When it comes to working together there will be times when you just want to punch the other person in the face and do it your way. It doesn't mean your way is the best way, it just means you prefer not having to listen to anyone else to get it done. You will also see sides of your friends that you wouldn't see if you didn't work with them which means that you might see sides of them you don't like and you might show the sides of yourself you prefer not to show other people to.
This takes me to my next point.
2. If you have a problem, sort it out as soon as possible instead of letting it get to you. Often problems are small until you decide not to solve them and leave them to grow. Even the smallest thing can become an unnecessary fight and it will be much more difficult to sort it out when you've let it get you upset for a longer time. The longer time you leave it the angrier you'll get because of it and it will also be longer time since it happend and in the end you might not even remember what started it and all you can remember is that you're angry at someone and you won't be able to solve it at all.
3. Leave people out of it if they don't need to know about it. If you have a problem with someone or know things that doesn't affect other people they don't need to know about it. Your friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, neighbours, facebook friends and twitter followers don't need to know what drinks we're serving or something someone's said that upset you. It only makes it bigger and more people will have opinions about it instead of actually showing up to see it for themselves and get their own opinion. Getting other people involved won't help. If you need someone else's opinion, ask someone that know the whole story or someone who doesn't have a chance to get involved. I learnt quickly that my parents were better to ask for advice than someone that might have to choose side afterwards. My parents would always take my side but they would also be honest and help me out. In the end they are more experienced and even though it's hard to admit, they're quite often right.
4. Admit when you're wrong. Everyone makes mistakes sometimes. It is human to err and people really appreciates you saying sorry and admitting you were wrong. When doing that you're not just showing that the other person were right, you are also showing that if you are wrong you will say that which means you can fight your case when you know you're right because sometimes you are allowed to be right and fight for what you believe in.
5. Let people know when they've done something good. Everyone likes to hear thank you sometimes even for the smallest thing. I'm not saying you need to say thank you for every single thing but if someone makes an effort to do something at least you can say thank you. In the end you will get it back, believe me.
6. As cliché as this sounds, remember to have fun! You can't stop enjoying the things you do especially not when you've organised it. Take a few minutes to stop and admire what you've managed to accomplish. Even though it might seem like something is failing at the moment you will always be able to find something good with it and if not you can always learn from it. If you only take your time and try to look at it from someone else's point of view you will probably realise that it was good in the end.
These things aren't made up because I am bored, they are things I've genuinely learnt this year. I know it's difficult to take it and think it actually works but it does. I am only talking from experience. If I knew these things before I started as co-chair this year would have been different. I'm not saying I regret things I've done this year because they made me realise all these things but you can always do things differently and look back on what you've done and think "why didn't I do that?". But do you know what? I look back on this year and think, I've done my best, sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't but in the end I came out as a wiser person with many good memories and as Mark Twain said: never regret anything that made you smile.
Being the chair for a society with about 50 members and events on weekly basis your life easily gets taken over by the society instead of Uni. Last term I managed to handle it quite well but running up to the charity ball (which was yesterday) it felt like I didn't have time for anything else. This blogpost isn't meant to be an emotional post about how much I'll miss it but it is worth mentioning that it as been a good year. However, I would rather try to point out what this year has given me. Because of me being to lazy I am going to do this in bullet points because that way I don't really have to think about the structure.
1. Working with friends is never easy regardless how much you like them. It doesn't matter how good you work together or how well you know each other. When it comes to working together there will be times when you just want to punch the other person in the face and do it your way. It doesn't mean your way is the best way, it just means you prefer not having to listen to anyone else to get it done. You will also see sides of your friends that you wouldn't see if you didn't work with them which means that you might see sides of them you don't like and you might show the sides of yourself you prefer not to show other people to.
This takes me to my next point.
2. If you have a problem, sort it out as soon as possible instead of letting it get to you. Often problems are small until you decide not to solve them and leave them to grow. Even the smallest thing can become an unnecessary fight and it will be much more difficult to sort it out when you've let it get you upset for a longer time. The longer time you leave it the angrier you'll get because of it and it will also be longer time since it happend and in the end you might not even remember what started it and all you can remember is that you're angry at someone and you won't be able to solve it at all.
3. Leave people out of it if they don't need to know about it. If you have a problem with someone or know things that doesn't affect other people they don't need to know about it. Your friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, neighbours, facebook friends and twitter followers don't need to know what drinks we're serving or something someone's said that upset you. It only makes it bigger and more people will have opinions about it instead of actually showing up to see it for themselves and get their own opinion. Getting other people involved won't help. If you need someone else's opinion, ask someone that know the whole story or someone who doesn't have a chance to get involved. I learnt quickly that my parents were better to ask for advice than someone that might have to choose side afterwards. My parents would always take my side but they would also be honest and help me out. In the end they are more experienced and even though it's hard to admit, they're quite often right.
4. Admit when you're wrong. Everyone makes mistakes sometimes. It is human to err and people really appreciates you saying sorry and admitting you were wrong. When doing that you're not just showing that the other person were right, you are also showing that if you are wrong you will say that which means you can fight your case when you know you're right because sometimes you are allowed to be right and fight for what you believe in.
5. Let people know when they've done something good. Everyone likes to hear thank you sometimes even for the smallest thing. I'm not saying you need to say thank you for every single thing but if someone makes an effort to do something at least you can say thank you. In the end you will get it back, believe me.
6. As cliché as this sounds, remember to have fun! You can't stop enjoying the things you do especially not when you've organised it. Take a few minutes to stop and admire what you've managed to accomplish. Even though it might seem like something is failing at the moment you will always be able to find something good with it and if not you can always learn from it. If you only take your time and try to look at it from someone else's point of view you will probably realise that it was good in the end.
These things aren't made up because I am bored, they are things I've genuinely learnt this year. I know it's difficult to take it and think it actually works but it does. I am only talking from experience. If I knew these things before I started as co-chair this year would have been different. I'm not saying I regret things I've done this year because they made me realise all these things but you can always do things differently and look back on what you've done and think "why didn't I do that?". But do you know what? I look back on this year and think, I've done my best, sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't but in the end I came out as a wiser person with many good memories and as Mark Twain said: never regret anything that made you smile.
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