Summing up everything that recent times have been for me, I told myself that this week's Dreemer of the Year challenge was going to have one soldier go AWOL. The challenge wasn't anything hard, on the contrary, but I wasn't exactly sure how to go about it.
The idea was to look outwards at a few people that we care about and that we deem important in their lives—my dreem teem in this case—do something out of love for them, and show them support in ways that we can. I was excited to do it because, of course, being loved and showing love are beautiful experiences. How to go about it, however, became the million-dollar question.
I wanted something spectacular, something that would make them say something like, "Wow, I feel really loved." Or something along those lines. I just wasn't sure what that thing of spectacle would be. I then looked back and realised something.
My dreem team members are people that I communicate with regularly, if not every day. I have conversations with them on different things concerning our lives, and then we show up for ourselves in ways that may be considered subtle.
Admittedly and obviously, up until this moment, I haven't taken that deliberate action that would be different from what happens normally. Excuses aren't the way, so I am going to share about how I have managed to show support in the ways that I normally would.
The first has a new project he is working on. He's usually on one project or another most of the time. So when he reached out to me some time last week to say that he was working on an AI to help people streamline their interests and skills to determine what careers they should pursue, I was excited about the idea and the fact that my guy was levelling up with his skills and pursuits.
We discussed how he would go about it, the team he's working with, and why he was doing it. I could only concur and listen to his brilliant ideas, and I was very interested in seeing it come to life as AI and all that fascinates me.
Quicker than I had expected, he reached out with a working model and asked to share it with me. What I did when I opened it up was to test it, observe how it performed, and then give him feedback.
I knew how important feedback is for developers and how much it would mean for my guy to get an in-depth review on it, so I provided him with that. That's one thing I would like to count, aside from the normal check-up calls, convos, and interactions on some other projects.
My second dreem team member is someone that we have conversations very regularly about a lot of things. Some are very serious, and others are very casual.
She's had a lot on her plate lately. If I could take some and share in her dish, I would. But the only way I could "be there for her" was to be available as often as I could. And the ways I did that recently were mostly to listen.
I wouldn't say that I am the best at this skill, listening, but I acknowledge that it is something that goes a long way in our interactions with people. There is this need to be heard that we inherently have as humans. Without much said back, I believe holding conversations with active listening does a lot to foster longevity and provide support.
My third dreem teem member is a person that I converse with often as well. Other than the regular support on her blog and the conversations that we had lately, I would admit and say that there wasn't that spectacular thing as well.
I could have done more, and not because I wanted to have something elaborate to share about this time, but because I consider the challenge a call to be more intentional with my love and support and do something really kind often. It doesn't end here anyway. From here on, I should put it on my mind to do these things as regularly as I can. They are my teem members after all. There's no "I" in teem. Cliche, I know...
