[Ansteorra] The first installment of Uncle Jovian's "Thought on A&S"

[Bree Flowers]

On Sat, Jan 30, 2010 at 8:47 PM, Jay Rudin <rudin at peoplepc.com> wrote:
>
>>       I was talking to my first apprentice and I shared this bit of advice… “You’re on the right track, but remember this. Some people will be made ahead of you. Some of them will have played a shorter amount of time than you have. Some may be less talented than you are. Others will have been made for political reasons. A few might leave you thinking ’What the… heck!’ Our award system isn’t completely fair, it never will be completely fair. Simply knowing this will help you weather the future shocks and surprises.”
>>       Later on, my apprentice (now a Laurel) told me this was perhaps the best piece of advice she had heard.
>
> Robin's Commentary
>
> It is my belief that you will get the awards you deserve.  It is ***NOT*** my belief that you will get the awards when you deserve them. Also, you will not get an award if you stop doing it before you get the award.
>
> (Note: I also do not believe that you will get the awards you think you deserve.  If you wonder why you don't have an award, ask somebody you trust why you don't have it.  Asked in private, this is a reasonable question, usually answered reasonably.)

I'm not sure if you get the awards you deserve. I'd say it's more like
you get the awards *someone else* thinks you deserve. And further to
that, it has to be a very particular sub-set of someone elses. There's
some very worthy people who will never get an award because the people
who notice their deeds are "nobody" types, similarly there are those
who may not yet be judged as worthy by most but that get recognized
because someone on a throne thinks that what they are doing is cool.
That's the reality as I've seen it, but I'm not saying that to make
people irritated. Quite the opposite! What I mean is that it's best
for your sanity if you start looking on awards as "nice to have" kind
of things. If you get recognized, it's best if your response is "wow,
me? Thanks so much for the cool scroll" rather than "well it's about
time". An award isn't a seal of approval, without which your
contribution is null and void. You don't need an award for your work
to be worthy, and an award isn't the only way to be recognized.
Sometimes someone who isn't on a throne will thank you, or pay you a
compliment. Make sure you accept those bits of recognition with grace
and treasure them as well.

Similarly, if you're doing something for the sole purpose of getting
an award, you've pretty much guaranteed you will never achieve your
goal. Do things because you love doing them, and if at some point you
stop loving what you're doing, don't be afraid to stop and do
something else. Hanging on to an activity that you aren't passionate
about just because you think recognition is just around the corner is
a sure way to start hating that activity.

Find joy and fulfillment in your activities and in the kind words of
others and don't sweat about what awards you are or are not getting.

~Eve