It’s funny how a week of adjusting to a new set of responsibilities and understanding new techniques can actually teach us about ourselves. Even funnier are the ways in which technology and the construction of the Internet has allowed for so many connections to be formed. This week has been one in which I’m still leaning the ways of the Heart Support community while just easing into the responses of those people who log in with us.
Being an administrator, I’ve learned, is a bit of a stressful job. In the past week I’ve been working directly with the accounts of both Facebook and Twitter. This means that I am one of two team members who check to update the statuses and reach out to those specific communities. Furthermore, I’ve been able to look at and analyze the reports of how many people our updates are reaching and how many people are gaining access to the information we are posting. It’s been amazing to see how one posting can have such a ripple effect in allowing people to respond and have those conversations, not only with our team, but with each other over such common interest and hard- hitting topics. While I’m working with both of these social networking sites and attempting to see how they work from the backside of things, making connections with the people show an interest and visit the site, I’ve also begun to work with another program as well.
While I’ve been going directly to the Heart Support website and responding to the people that post prayer requests and other informational details, I’ve also been working with another program, a backend, called The Kitchen Sink. The Kitchen Sink is kind of the “behind the scenes” details of what it takes to look at other people’s stories, add, and edit them. Similarly, I use this same process to add my own blogs to the site for the topic of the month.
We have begun the new topic of goals and dreams for the month of April. So, while we post to the social media sites about having people share their stories, I must also go onto the backend of the site and check the stories that are sent in, asking for Jake’s approval, and writing to the authors of the stories asking for the use of their stories on the website. The three that I have looked at so far have been absolutely wonderful because people feel comfortable enough to share these moments with us. They feel safe and even after working here for only about two weeks, I’ve begun to recognize that I myself am opening up with the responses I have been giving to people and the way I handle my conversation with Jake. That is to say, no longer am I trying to simply impress the others, but I’m trying to take a risk, to do the best I can, and offer as much discussion as possible. Often times the listener can be the best tool.
I’ve recently written my own blog as per Jake’s assignment, a blog on dreams, goals, and what it means to accomplish them. In doing that I definitely had to take some time, sit down and free write in order to plan and produce an effective work- something that would both engage and teach. It ended up that I talked about my goals for this project. My goals to help people, to connect to a community where there is a near, to challenge and encourage those I come in contact with while really pushing to learn something new about myself. Like I said, it’s been two weeks, but just that blog exercise alone and my email correspondence with Jake has been phenomenal. When I think about, writing in my own story to him and asking about an internship was my own dream. It became my own brave moment that has led me to this point in my life. Now, I guess the new list of dreams and identifiers begins. Yet before becoming selfish and chasing after my own needs I must continue to push forward sharing the story and mission of Heart Support, reading the stories of others as they walk toward their dreams, letting them know that we understand and are leaving the light on for them.
Do you have a dream in mind? Do you have a dream in your heart? Good. Now, don’t be afraid to go ahead and chase after it.
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