Over the course of my life, as I have achieved more and more, I've learned that I prefer to achieve things in quiet and just keep moving. Major things, even.
When I worked in fast food, when we would have a rush at lunchtime, I would cook more burgers than you could imagine. And when the rush was over and they were still handing out the food, I was taking a break because my rush was over at the grill.
In air traffic control when I would work and set things up so that everybody would get to where they were supposed to go safely and efficiently, I would get it done and then be given a break. It hadn't happened yet, but it was all set up.
That was even more amplified when I was in traffic management where I was planning out the evening shift due to thunderstorms and setting things up in the morning or middle of day so that they could be successful in the evening while I was at home. I would negotiate delays and reroutes and get everything set up and then have to leave because my shift was over.
Recently I achieved a couple of life goals. After over seven years of effort, I captured all of the slides that my parents had from my childhood in the 1960s and 1970s. I put them online for my family and sent them postcards with the web address so that they could view them at their leisure. I got no response because I made this life accomplishment that took over seven years in the quiet.
Another major milestone is publishing a book. I self-published my first book recently. I struggled with the final moves that I had to make to get it through the process, and I had to rework the cover several times in order to get it the right size so that the do. But once I published it and it was available solar system-wide, I turned my computer off and went to bed. Glowing, of course, and it was hard to sleep, but understated achievement.
At times, approaching things this way is challenging because I see others being lauded for their achievements, and I see others celebrating and having a big time. That's really not me.
Sometimes, I think something's wrong with me because I don't want to be like that. I celebrated a retirement from a long career by quietly leaving and working myself out of a job over the last two years of my career.
I celebrated turning 60 by celebrating another person's birthday and the birth of a granddaughter.
I like the way I do things, even though it's so different from everybody around me.
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