Communication

Have you ever said something, thought you were perfectly clear as to your intent and then the other person totally misunderstood what you were saying, misunderstood your intent? It's rather frustrating when it happens and really frustrating when it happens over and over again, regardless of how much care you may take. I have two bosses at work and I communicate very well with one of them and with the other it's kind of hit or miss. I can tell when my meaning is not being fully understood pretty quickly, her upper lip puckers up and begins to quiver ever so slightly, she gives the appearance of gotten a whiff of some really powerful stink. At that point I try to back peddle as best I can.

My situation at work isn't one I can just cut loose from. I really, really like my job and my bosses. I realize I need to work on my communication and just try to minimize the mis-communications as best I can. I found I was having similar difficulty with some of the folks over at SSP. One of the tasks I had taken on for the club was the dissemination of information from the folks running the club to the members of the club. It's something that groups can have difficulty with. I found myself venting to a couple of friends with more regularity than I liked about how communication was challenging in general and that I had felt the backlash of misunderstandings and mis-communications with greater and greater frequency. I kept saying, I'll give it one more year and see if things change if they don't I'm going to leave this club. Well, two instances of miscommunication occurred at the end of October/beginning of November and my patience snapped. I found a place to store my OC1 and contacted another club to see if I could join them and then quit SSP.

I have joined the Seattle Outrigger Canoe Club (SOCC) and have been very happy with my decision. I have no responsibilities other than to show up and paddle, help move the canoe into and out of the water, and maybe bail the canoe, but nothing else. It's nice and refreshing, relaxing even. I was surprised at how much tension I had locked up in my neck that immediately dissipated once I switched clubs. I really miss many of the SSP club members, but they are friends and we keep in touch, we'll have a nice little rivalry at the races this year.

Of course, I am unable to keep from helping out where I see a need. I don't have many other things occupying time in my life, why not throw myself into the outrigger world. Can you imagine my surprise to see my name put forth for the SOCC board position of secretary? I mean I knew that I offered to help out in any way the club could use me, but I was still tickled to see my name on the ballot. As I have seen no other names put forth I think chances are pretty darn high that I will be the new secretary of SOCC. So there you have it, I'm still paddling, just with a different group now.