Week beginning: 26/03/18
No. of evening meetings: 0 (woohoo!)
Films watched: 3
Healthy eating: Good (ish - apart from the Easter treats)
Mental health: OK (with a bit of a dip)
Well, I managed to miss last week, so I am including that one as well.
The previous week was dominated by a couple of filming assignments - one was filming a conference in Cardiff and the other was a promotional film for an international company based in Stevenage. The latter required an overnight stay (in a Premier Inn, which was a bit *meh*). The filming itself didn't take long but travelling home took over five hours (!) and then I went to the school pub quiz (we didn't win). The following morning I had to go to a leadership training course before being official photographer at our church Easter party. Needless to say, I was pretty knackered after all of that.
This week number one son JKY was ill with tonsilitis, so I had to mostly be on hand to keep an eye on him. I was feeling a bit down at the beginning of the week, but I think it had something to do with exhaustion and am feeling better now. Other than that, it's been a fairly uneventful week although I have been reminded of the importance of tenacity and to never give up on something even when it seems hopeless.
I was helping a local charity we're involved with try and set up their YouTube channel, but they wanted to be able to link to their website to encourage people to donate. I don't know much time I spent on this trying to make it work but couldn't figure it out. I kept coming up against roadblock after roadblock. The only way you can have clickable links to your website on your videos is if you are a member of YouTube's partnership programme, but you can only join if you have over a 1,000 subscribers and something like 4,000 hours of video content. Seeing as this charity has only just set up their channel, all seemed lost.
At this point, I gave up. I said there was no way we could take this forward ... until someone pointed out that YouTube has a special programme for non-profits which didn't have such strict requirements. In fact, you only needed a basic account to join. There were a few more hurdles to jump after that, but eventually .... eventually we made it and now everything works.
I'm not usually a quitter, per se, but I know I'm not the most tenacious of people either. I will keep going at something if I feel it's got a good chance of success. If it seems impossible or very very unlikely, chances are I will give up.
I've always believed in the principle of working hard at achieving something, but equally I feel that sometimes it's important to know when to quit, especially if your family relationships are suffering, your health is falling apart, or you're digging yourself deeper and deeper into debt. Some things are just not worth pursuing if you leave a trail of pain and suffering in your wake.
But then, I'm sure there are instances where people have sacrificed everything to pursue a certain goal (in science or technology, for example) that ultimately changed the course of human history and maybe even saved millions of lives. Should I have just told them to give up and live a quiet life?
Having thought about it, I'm not sure.
I guess it's a case by case basis kind of thing. You have to weight things up and decide whether it's worth it of not. I suppose that sometimes it is and sometimes it isn't. There are no hard and fast rules (although if it means others suffer because if your actions, I don't think it can really be justified).
Coming back to my example, however, it didn't involve sacrifices or long nights or great expense. It just required some problem-solving and a refusal to give up. As with most things, there is a way – you just have to keep looking for it.
No. of evening meetings: 0 (woohoo!)
Films watched: 3
Healthy eating: Good (ish - apart from the Easter treats)
Mental health: OK (with a bit of a dip)
Well, I managed to miss last week, so I am including that one as well.
The previous week was dominated by a couple of filming assignments - one was filming a conference in Cardiff and the other was a promotional film for an international company based in Stevenage. The latter required an overnight stay (in a Premier Inn, which was a bit *meh*). The filming itself didn't take long but travelling home took over five hours (!) and then I went to the school pub quiz (we didn't win). The following morning I had to go to a leadership training course before being official photographer at our church Easter party. Needless to say, I was pretty knackered after all of that.
This week number one son JKY was ill with tonsilitis, so I had to mostly be on hand to keep an eye on him. I was feeling a bit down at the beginning of the week, but I think it had something to do with exhaustion and am feeling better now. Other than that, it's been a fairly uneventful week although I have been reminded of the importance of tenacity and to never give up on something even when it seems hopeless.
I was helping a local charity we're involved with try and set up their YouTube channel, but they wanted to be able to link to their website to encourage people to donate. I don't know much time I spent on this trying to make it work but couldn't figure it out. I kept coming up against roadblock after roadblock. The only way you can have clickable links to your website on your videos is if you are a member of YouTube's partnership programme, but you can only join if you have over a 1,000 subscribers and something like 4,000 hours of video content. Seeing as this charity has only just set up their channel, all seemed lost.
At this point, I gave up. I said there was no way we could take this forward ... until someone pointed out that YouTube has a special programme for non-profits which didn't have such strict requirements. In fact, you only needed a basic account to join. There were a few more hurdles to jump after that, but eventually .... eventually we made it and now everything works.
I'm not usually a quitter, per se, but I know I'm not the most tenacious of people either. I will keep going at something if I feel it's got a good chance of success. If it seems impossible or very very unlikely, chances are I will give up.
I've always believed in the principle of working hard at achieving something, but equally I feel that sometimes it's important to know when to quit, especially if your family relationships are suffering, your health is falling apart, or you're digging yourself deeper and deeper into debt. Some things are just not worth pursuing if you leave a trail of pain and suffering in your wake.
But then, I'm sure there are instances where people have sacrificed everything to pursue a certain goal (in science or technology, for example) that ultimately changed the course of human history and maybe even saved millions of lives. Should I have just told them to give up and live a quiet life?
Having thought about it, I'm not sure.
I guess it's a case by case basis kind of thing. You have to weight things up and decide whether it's worth it of not. I suppose that sometimes it is and sometimes it isn't. There are no hard and fast rules (although if it means others suffer because if your actions, I don't think it can really be justified).
Coming back to my example, however, it didn't involve sacrifices or long nights or great expense. It just required some problem-solving and a refusal to give up. As with most things, there is a way – you just have to keep looking for it.
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