1 Write Way

Inconsistency or I Did What? Again? #MondayBlogs #whereicandothemostgood

My mother once said I was predictably unpredictable.  I would argue that I’m simply consistently inconsistent.  Some of you may have noticed that I’ve “rebooted” my LinkedIn account.  Those who know me well aren’t the least bit surprised.  This seems to my M.O.:  I’ll think long and hard about taking an action, consider all the pros and cons, and after considerable debates with me, myself, and I, make a decision and announce it to the world.  Then, within a short period of time, I will flipflop.  I will discover some reason, some argument that I had somehow overlooked, and come to regret what now seems to be an ill-informed decision.

Well.  So it goes.

I try to simplify my life, but life simply isn’t simple.

And I really can’t complain about that.  As an older yogi friend of mine said, after asking him how he was feeling:  “Well, I’m still vertical and sucking air.”  True dat.  Still, I get annoyed with myself for being what I perceive as inconsistent.  That said, while filling in all my employment and education history (I had deleted my previous account and obviously all the data that went with it), I saw a lot of consistency.

I’ve been working for the same state government for 15 years and have progressively gained more experience in working with, what we in the biz call, “large administrative data sets.”  Your birth certificate data sets, your hospital discharge data sets.  These files of millions of records that were never designed for research, never meant to “communicate” with each other.  But I make them talk, in a manner of speaking.  Don’t misunderstand me.  I’m no magician or even expert when it comes to this kind of work.  I was (and still am to a degree) part of a team of highly skilled epidemiologists and public health experts.  Working with data like this is like working on a massive jigsaw puzzle that was designed by different people for different reasons.  Not all the pieces are going to fit.  Some may even be missing.  The fun is in finding those pieces that will fit, and the reward is in knowing that the completed puzzle, even with its missing pieces, will be used to understand health behaviors and, ideally, improve health outcomes.

The true benefit of deleting and then resurrecting my LinkedIn account is my realization that this part of my life is still pretty important to me.  Of course, if I could afford to live off my writing, I would.  I’m not a fool.  But since I have to have a day job, I’m glad it’s in a field that seeks to make a positive difference in the world.  A colleague recently said to me, “I just want to be where I can do the most good.”  I know some if not many people think government employees are slackers at best, parasites at worst.

Well, hello there, dear Reader.  My name is Marie and I am a state government employee.  What motivates me in my work is not my salary, not even my benefits (although I truly appreciate having them).  My motivation is in being “where I can do the most good.”  And I know, in this case, I am very, very lucky.

And now for something different.

A tree!
A tree!

Yes, a tree and not a cat!  This photo was taken a few years ago when I was visiting my childhood home.  There’s a wonderful footpath through the woods and past the cornfields near my old house.  The photo doesn’t do justice to the wonderful late afternoon light which made the leaves of this tree glow.  Soon, I’ll be making another trip to this area.  I’ve plan for a couple of posts while I’m gone, but comments will be off since my access to the internet will be intermittent at best.

But you know, dear Reader, I’m always with you in spirit.

Marie A Bailey

, , , , , , , ,

30 responses to “Inconsistency or I Did What? Again? #MondayBlogs #whereicandothemostgood”

  2. THAT explains the Linked In message I got from you! Funny, because I’ve been resisting Linked In for years and only signed up to see if I could get a famous person’s agent’s name. Not that I’m stalking anyone, mind you…

    Anyway, consistency is overrated. I’ll take loyalty and reliability instead.

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Well Marie, enjoy your trip to what looks to be a beautiful area! It sounds like you work hard and deserve a nice vacation. 🙂 Also, I don’t see changing one’s mind as a bad thing, but actually a strength. Being stubborn is easy!

    Liked by 1 person

  5. I didn’t know this was where your work lies. I love things like that. In fact, I was transitioning out of clinical medicine and into research and epidemiology when I got sidetracked with writing. I love the area, and kudos to you for making those huge data sets useful. There’s a wealth of information to be gained from them.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Hey, Carrie, yes, I feel very fortunate to have landed in my current position. I didn’t start out in epi or even statistics. I was an English major and then Social Work. If you had told me when I started out that I would working with large data sets and writing code, I wouldn’t have believed you. I’m just very lucky how the path opened up for me 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  6. I think your work sounds interesting.
    That tree is spectacular–I’m sure it did glow when the sun hit it. Enjoy your vacation!
    (I laughed at your cat comment. Mine are certain it’s dinner time now–it’s 3:15. )

    Liked by 1 person

    • Yeah, I found a good reason to reboot my account. At least now I think my profile makes more sense 😉 I’ve been slow to get up to speed with the fiction course, although so far I like the platform they’re using. It’s too bad I’ll be mostly on the road the first two weeks of the course, but I’m not going to try for the certificate anyway. I’ll just be happy to view the videos 😉

      Like

  9. I was surprised to see your LinkIn account revitalized. I clicked to join your group. (I still don’t understand linkedIn. Oh well. I think inconsistent is nice and I love people who want to do the most good.

    Liked by 1 person

  10. Beautiful photo, Marie! And it’s lovely that you will get to visit that tree again.
    I totally get you about deleting your account and having to reboot. I started to do the same thing with LinkedIn since I kept forgetting my password and had done so little with it.

    Liked by 1 person

    • I’m definitely looking forward to a break from my workaday world. I’m glad I’ve rebooted my account. It gave me a chance to straighten it up a bit 😉

      Like

    • Hi, Jeri! LinkedIn might work better for me eventually, but it’s a bit awkward right now because I work in the public health field, but I’d rather be writing 😉 Still, I rebooted my account because I was/am checking out opportunities in the public health field, and it seemed like a good idea to have an account … just in case. In any case, I think I will use it more wisely now.

      Liked by 1 person

  12. I totally understand your indecision/change of heart. I go through that often, also, particularly where the internet is concerned. I’m trying to ‘get’ Linked In. Not having much success yet. 🙂 Nice to meet you. Love your blog site and your phrase: I AM, therefore I write.
    Write on!

    Liked by 1 person

  13. Enjoy, Marie! I love trees. Something has threatened one of our trees, and I think I ought to blog about it. Maybe in a few days. Congrats on having a survival job that feels good and does good!! xoxo

    Liked by 1 person