I had a plan. I always have a plan, but sometimes the plans life has for me are different than the plans I had in mind. I was reminded of this on the day of my computing midterm. Not only was the midterm more difficult than I’d imagined (and I’d expected it to be quite challenging), but the next day I came down with food poisoning and was unable to keep anything down for two days. This was definitely not what I’d had in mind. It took me much longer to recover than I wanted, and suddenly the time had come to begin projects and reference observations. Then I was finishing projects and writing final papers as the end of the term drew near.
My plans may have been changed for me, but in the process I learned something important: to let go. As a bit of a control freak, letting go is not easy for me, but by allowing myself to loosen my grip on my life, I found joys I might have missed otherwise. I stopped caring that my plans were foiled again, and I just enjoyed the opportunities that came my way. Instead of stressing about all the things I needed to accomplish by the end of the semester, I focused on enjoying the challenge. The last few weeks weren’t all sunshine, of course, but I weathered them surprisingly easily, and came through believing even more than I am on the right path now.
What does this have to do with librarianship? I think that in a field undergoing so many changes, letting go may be an important lesson to learn. We need to learn to embrace the changes that come our way, and use all we have learned in life to take our field, and our libraries, in the best direction possible. I hope that’s what I can do as a librarian.
