I'm sitting under this tree in Potchefstroom (or Potch) South Africa.
I'm enjoying a holiday type break whilst my partner works at nearby North West University.
The guesthouse has WiFi; we can post to Facebook and Twitter and monitor emails. In many ways we can conduct life as usual – checking the bank balance, booking a restaurant and ensuring relatives are safe. Much of my social media (SoMe) usage is related to work particularly Twitter. To clarify I mean work in a broad sense encompassing me as a nurse, leader, manager, director, and contributor; these are just part of the whole me and inseparable from who I am. ‘Work me’ is just part of my life and not a completely separable facet.
Through SoMe I have contacts I have never, only once, or infrequently met in person; some I'll see each day at my work place. Nonetheless there's been sharing and an open hearted welcome; I trust I've reflected that to those who've approached me. Sharing thoughts about aspects of work, favourite foods, what the cat is doing or ideas about music show much about us. Given technology now available I've been able to consider aspects of work simply by monitoring my SoMe channels. As ever I find much to reflect on and herein lies my dilemma.
Being on holiday – away at least – means social and family related SoMe activity feels ok, a bit like sending postcards. Alongside this are the posts, pictures, diagrams and powerful 140 character pieces that engage the ‘work’ me. Have work and the social become too entwined?
While I've been away recent posts on kindness and curiosity by Sue Spencer @nursingbard and on listening by Tanmay Vora via Teresa Chinn @agencynurse have positively piqued my interest.
Perhaps being away is a good time to think about these things? If I'd turned my devices off completely I wonder if I'd reflected in quite the same way?
Time spent alone is a potent opportunity. Whether using SoMe or just a notebook and pen where this post started, I cannot ignore the influences and opportunities that our connected selves bring.
Even so it is good too, to turn devices off completely; enjoy the sun, thunderstorms, breezes and wildlife in places away from home. Even better is meeting the people whose home this town is; in doing so using the kindness, curiosity and listening I've been reminded of makes all the difference to this experience.
As mornings in the UK get a little cooler, I have noted friends commenting on first days of 'big school' for their offspring while the timelines on Facebook fill with pictures of newborn babies and just brought home kittens.
As I have faced some last times, such as a funeral, finishing holidays or enjoyable projects, they are also first times. They provide an opportunity to reflect and revive; to be savoured and used to reinforce who I am.
Changes, losses and gains occur all the time in our lives and so often we are too busy to recognise them and note the impact they have. I recall a time when your first school photo was ordered with multiple copies for proud family and friends; now these can be shared almost instantly.
I wonder if we have lost a little of the anticipation of seeing what we looked like in our uniform, as a school child or at work?
At the same time we can see images of those near to, or in, death; what impact does that have? I suspect for many that will be the 'first time' death is visible unlike the historical commonplace in the developed world where so many died (and indeed were born) in their own homes.
I believe we should relish all such times and create meanings and connections through them. Certainly I am immensely grateful for those contacts who have seen fit to help me through the current times; they are busy blurring the lines between first and last times. They see the person at the centre, ready to support with their enthusiasm and ideas.
So by no means for the first time, life is very good; I hope its not the last time.
I have been considering writing again for a while; I suppose this is a kind of 'slow-blog' or 'Slog'. As ever though, strands of life have combined to make sitting down to this task inevitable. I have a notebook that since given it last Christmas I have used to jot down thoughts and ideas. I can see that in mid-MArch 2013 I was thinking about creativity in nursing.
In response to comments by Prof Don Berwick reported on the BBC on 12/3/13 regarding Mid Staffs I was asking do we stifle creativity in healthcare and particularly in Nursing?
Whilst pondering that on 14/3/13 Roy Lilley said this in the first of his blog pieces that day,
"Nursing has been at the forefront of innovation and nurses use some of the most sophisticated kit the NHS has to offer.... Nurses are the mothers and daughters of invention."
So I am not missing a theme here; once we consider nursing history we find the examples of Florence Nightingale, Mary Seacole and many others who have developed kit and service models since then that have led to improvements in care. In my specialist field of palliative care Dame Cicely Saunders qualified as a nurse, as well as in medicine and social work. Her influence remains profound though I wonder if we have lost some of the energy that went with such creative spirits. Is working under the pressures many nurses describe sapping their energy and ability to see problems as they occur?
The other requisite for creativity is risk taking; when dealing with the lives of others we obviously have to minimise the risks, 'do no harm'. Yet whilst discussing service improvements via a Twitter nurse chat last week, care of WeNurses it was evident there were plenty of ideas yet little evidence that things were easy to change. So if creativity is there, what seems to holding things back? Is the appetite for change difficult to identify amongst the bad taste in nursing's mouth delivered by the hands of the detractors of the NHS?
In all of this I had decided I ought to try something different in terms of learning. I took advantage of an offer from Martin Shovel to join a cartooning for communicators workshop in Brighton. Martin and Martha his partner led four of us through a journey of discovery through drawing and use of language to communicate in simple direct terms. I hadn't drawn for many years; art was something I have always loved yet lacked the confidence to pursue. The workshop enabled me to connect with the idea of simplicity in drawing; finding the key message and developing from there. I found it quite an emotional day, as echoes of past 'you're useless' school days passed by.
On reflection I now know I can use a simple drawing to convey a message; my style is under development and I try to practice in spare moments. Another side to creativity, yet I am sure it has value in terms of increasing my range of communication styles, as well as my confidence in my messages. It has also reshaped my thinking, making me consider the core messages I want to convey.
All this has come about through social media 'SoMe'; using Twitter I have found a new arena for creativity. The aforementioned chats, blogs and vlogs, all make increased links with greater immediacy. This was brought home to me when a nurse contact made via Twitter looked like they could do with some support. I was happy to offer advice and to listen; and now nearly a year has gone by, the echoes of that time are coming around again. On reflection I have to acknowledge that I know there were some days I thought I could have done differently and been a better support. Even so it appears what I did sufficed for that person, at that time.
Reflections and echoes swirl around; often catching us unawares. For me this 'slow-blog' or 'Slog', has enabled to me look at how I have learnt to innovate with modest personal reputational risk taking, using the opportunities social media have offered to be creative.In my work the benefits are that I can see how important it is to allow all the team to reflect and sense the echoes of learning and opportunities that will allow us to grow and develop; from there we can take innovation forward, personally and professionally.
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