Non Sequitur: Adventures in the life of Kirsten: 2013: A Year for Gratitude

On January 1, 2013 I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I had a job that I found incredibly frustrating on good days, few friends in Kitchener, where I had moved for said job and a lot of uncertainty about the future.

However, I hadn't lost hope. I started the year by creating a gratitude jar with small notes of what I had to be grateful for. I applied to two Ph.D. programs, continued to apply for other jobs, wen swing dancing and led about 300 people around the World in committing 14 random acts of kindness for Valentine's Day.

At the end of March my maternity leave contract ended. I didn't have a new job or a solid idea of what I was going to do next. I was waiting to hear about my Ph.D. application to the University of Ottawa and a hiring process at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. I also felt extremely discouraged by how I perceived my job performance at the position I was leaving, thinking that if I couldn't cut it as an admin assistant, I wasn't going to cut it as much else.

Things seemed pretty bleak. However, now I can see that the decisions I made in the first two weeks of April have changed my life in dramatically wonderful ways.

One of the first things I did when my job ended was start volunteering for World Accord where David Barth and Nelson Rosales allowed me to help them design a volunteering program for the organization.

In that same week my room mate Brock and I decided to try to mobilize people in KW to advocate on behalf of the Conflict Minerals Act which had just had its first reading in Parliament on March 26th.

Over the weekend I decided to attend an improv workshop held by Theatre on the Edge, returning to one of my favorite activities after exactly 5 years.

In the second week, I was accepted into the International Development Ph.D. at the University of Ottawa.

Here's how these choices played out. Over the summer I volunteered with World Accord as their volunteer coordinator, where I had my first opportunity to supervise others. This experience introduced me to a number of wonderful volunteers who challenged and inspired me in their own ways. I also had the opportunity to organize World Accord's annual cycling fundraiser Cycle for Sustainability which combined three of the things I love: community outreach, event planning and fundraising. This was a challenging experience and I definitely made some mistakes but I am so incredibly grateful for having had the opportunity to work with World Accord.

While I was spending my days at World Accord I was spending my evenings with the KW Just Minerals Campaign. Brock and I managed to mobilize about 8 reliable co-conspirators by early June and we held the organization's first event, attended community events and supported activities in Paul Dewar's office. This experience was also very exciting and introduced me to new people in KW and helped me to get a feel for their activist community. I was so grateful to have had the opportunity both to lead and also to leave the organization in inspired and competent hands when I left in the autumn.

I also began attending Theatre On the Edge workshops religiously and became friends with its members for whom the description of "salt of the earth" would be a dramatic understatement. They even let me perform in a show.

And so, the decisions I made in that first week of unemployment resulted in me making more friends than I ever thought possible in such a short period of time, gaining meaningful work experience and falling in love with KW.

At the end of the summer it was time to head off to Ottawa, my accommodations set up with one of my best friends, Alex Keenan (who never lost faith in my eventual return to Ottawa), to start my Ph.D. The first month was a bit of a slog, I think my office mate is a bit surprised that I didn't drop out, but then things started picking up. I have two incredible research assistantships, one working with a Prof who focuses on the role of NATO in Afghanistan who has been very supportive and the other working in a public outreach capacity with Partnership Africa Canada. I am also now one of the volunteer coordinators for the national Just Minerals Campaign. At school I'm the external representative for our departmental graduate student association as well as taking French courses along with my mandatory classes. As you can imagine, this leaves me with a pretty tight schedule but I absolutely love everything I'm doing, which makes the times things seem overwhelming seem not so bad.

I abandoned my gratitude jar after about six weeks, and it's a good thing I did because this year has given me so much to be grateful for they never would have fit in that box.

While I appreciate the love and support I've received from everyone who made this year possible I want to thank a couple of people specifically.

David Barth and Nelson Rozales: Thank you for inviting me to work with you at World Accord. I continue to be inspired by your work; you helped me to develop invaluable skills and I appreciate your guidance.

Brockenshire: Thanks for encouraging me to do something in support of the Just Minerals Campaign, without you it never would have happened. Also thank you for putting up with me as your grumpy room mate in the pre-April 2013 period..

Shayne Sangster: Thanks for being a reliable volunteer, source of advice and generally restoring my faith in humanity.

Alex Keenan: For never giving up on me and being an awesome room mate :).

Everyone at TOtE: For making me feel so welcome and sharing yourselves with me. As Adam Benjamin has pointed out on several occasions I love you all.

Craig: For being my nemesis in public, and being an incredible supporter and cheerleader in private.

Susan: For giving amazing hugs, organizing movie nights, introducing me to new boardgames and for being a reliable source of transportation.

Folks at Hep Cats (especially Greg, Mark, David, Amanda, Sara, Nigel, Kristin and Kevin): Thanks for teaching me, leading me and laughing with me.

Everyone who helped me move to Ottawa (Brockenshire, Sarah, Taylor, Adam Becevello, Robin and Julian): I honestly could not have done it without you and I still have no idea how to repay you.

Finally, I am grateful to my classmates and profs who have worked alongside me, teaching, guiding and sharing their talents with me.

Below are some of the more memorable photographs from this year: