Vlog: Changes
Below is my first attempt at a “vlog” for the Exponent. I look forward to your comments–either about this genre (how does it compare to a regular blogpost?) or about the questions that I pose at the end of the video.
Vlog: Change from Jana Remy on Vimeo.
PS: Isn’t that an awesome quilt on the wall behind me? My Mom made it. She’s an amazingly-gifted quilter.
The quilt is beautiful. I’m sure your video is excellent, but I prefer written posts. I rarely watch videos online or listen to podcasts from blogs or news media because I have other people in the room with me that I don’t wish to disturb. I can also take written posts at my own speed, whether that is fast or slow, as circumstances dictate.
I love this, Jana. I’ve enjoyed your Pilgrimsteps blog since I discovered it a couple of years ago, but I feel like the video format gives me a chance to get to know you so much better. I like that you did it in your office, a very important and intimate space for you that seems to represent where you have come in your journey.
As for turning points in life, I wrote about my spiritual turning point in a recent Exponent. I was lost on a side road in Ohio and, stopping to find direction, had an epiphany of sorts, realizing that I didn’t have to stay on the exact course I had followed most of my life. I should add that your example, Jana, had a pronounced effect on this turning point for me. My spiritual path is now my own, not what someone else dictates, and I have found immense freedom in that.
Great to see you, Jana! I love hearing about your journey and changes. Because I waited 8 years to become a mother, I have sort had a journey in the opposite direction, with intense career ( and working 1.5 jobs) and now transitioning to working mother. Because my career is in serving corporate clientele, it feels like I am serving both at home and at work. 🙂 I know having a career is good for me, and I do love my job, but I also hope for a phase of my life to be “just” a full-time caregiver to my child(ren).
So the change from dedicated career woman to working mother was a huge and wonderful change. Becoming a mother has cracked my heart open and made me love and be vulnerable in ways I never could have imagined. While in some ways, it has already broken my heart and introduced me to new deep grief, it has been a journey and change I have been so honored to accept. I just know that this won’t be the end of my changes. I look forward to more change and different phases of my life.
Great to see you, Jana! I love hearing about your journey and changes. Because I waited 8 years to become a mother, I have sort had a journey in the opposite direction, with intense career ( and working 1.5 jobs) and now transitioning to working mother. Because my career is in serving corporate clientele, it feels like I am serving both at home and at work. 🙂 I know having a career is good for me, and I do love my job, but I also hope for a phase of my life to be “just” (that’s tongue in cheek) a full-time caregiver to my child(ren). Motherhood has been a fascinating change, but I am excited to see what changes will follow.
So the change from dedicated career woman to working mother was a huge and wonderful change. Becoming a mother has cracked my heart open and made me love and be vulnerable in ways I never could have imagined. While in some ways, it has already broken my heart and introduced me to new deep grief, it has been a journey and change I have been so honored to accept. I just know that this won’t be the end of my changes. I look forward to more change and different phases of my life.
sorry for the duplicate. iPad issues.
I loved the video. Makes me feel a kinship to you (although we’ll likely never meet 😉 ) and better connected the Exponent community at large. Thank you for telling this story!
My own journey-change was actually started by a video. A young Mormon undergraduate from Harvard was sitting on a religion panel with her cohorts of different religions discussing their beliefs. I was struck by her eloquence and intelligence. And then I was jealous. Wondering where my own scholarship might have taken me had someone taken a more active role in mentoring me academically when I was younger.
A few months later, I visited Boston with my husband’s family. We went to church and this same girl from the panel ended up teaching Sunday school. That video I’d seen of her had prompted a lot of inward searching. Seeing her triggered something. Signaled something to me. I had just had my second child. She was sleeping in a carseat next to me during the class. I had always said I’d try to go to graduate school when my kids were in school or something but suddenly, I wanted to go NOW. I wanted to do something NOW. And I felt like God was saying: Yes! Go! Do!
So, I went and did. Applied for a low-residency MFA in Boston, where it all began for me. Now I get to do the work from home and go back to the city every 6 months. I’m still on a constantly shifting path. But that excitement brewing within me as I sat through a Cambridge SS class really marked the turning point.
After reading glimpses of your story here and there it was fun to see you and your energy on video. Your details about applying to graduate school after taking time off was helpful.
Your story is motivating. I love hearing about women embracing themselves and developing. I find myself restrained with the fear that when I go back to graduate school I’ll have lost my edge, that I’ll be unable to balance my family, or that I’ll basically sink. Hearing from a mom who has done it gracefully is reassuring. Thanks!
comment on the format: I loved seeing you and hearing your story. I would love to see vlog posts as an occasional part of The Exponent blog…but not to frequent, just from the practical standpoints mentioned in the first comment: I really don’t like to whip out the headphones all that frequently, and I like to dip in and out of posts as I have time, which is more of a challenge with video posts–I can’t visually scan for the key words 2/3 of the way down the post that really got me thinking.
Just a comment in response to your first question. It is interesting to see the person behind the words but for a person who, like me, gets distracted by visuals, it was a less satisfying experience than reading your writing. My mind wandered and thought about the things around you that I was seeing as well as your facial expressions. The genre made it harder for me to focus on your message. So please don’t move exclusively to vlogging. People who process information like me generally find video posts less helpful unless the visuals are specifically focused on elucidating the message of the video like, for instance, step by step instructions on how to install a light fixture.
I enjoyed your vlog – and getting to know you a little bit more. I agree with some other commenters here that the written format is a little easier for me but this was good for a change.
As to your question – I’m not sure when the shift occurred in my life. I just know there was one. I think several things – reading historical writings, women’s writings and also just the typical, but profound challenges of life that made me question things – things that I had perhaps just gone with the flow on before.
Best wishes to you Jana.
I have never followed any kind of video blog before. Not sure I have seen one, so my impression is from a newbie. I’ll try to be honest so that perhaps you can find ways to make a vlog work. I watched a little of the video a few days ago. Maybe about 45 seconds or so? However, since you were just explaining about it and showing your office it didn’t hold my interest. You seemed hesitant and it was a slow start. The title just said changes which is so vague I thought it was about changes in medium. Reading some of the comments I guess perhaps it was about changes in your life or your career.
So my suggestion would be to be more explicit with the title AND more upfront at the beginning of the video so people know what they are in for. Of course you want your personality to show and by all means let that come through during the videos. There are things that a video can show that the written word can’t.
I have enjoyed your written posts as thought provoking. Good luck as you experiment with video. It could be a really great thing.