Conference Planning

On days that I'm not PhDing, I am part of a group that helps build out conferences for Koreans & Korean-Americans, and am lucky enough this year to be the chair. I'll be frank, it's scary to realize that I make a lot of the "final calls" and that the conference vision & execution is largely on me. Yet, as scary as it is, it's also equally reassuring— actually even more so reassuring to realize the support of the team I have and the people around me. 

I remember hearing something (from somewhere), about how powerful it is when you ask someone, "can you help me" and the person replies back with "yes" as the first response. In those moments, the person's affirmative is happening without asking what you need help on, what needs to get done, what is the time commitment, etc. The answer is solely: I am here to help you (with the implicit of, in whatever you need me to do.) Over this past week, including today's series of conference calls & meetings, I've been given this response multiple times, and in reflecting tonight, how precious of a gift this is. 

Of course, having boundaries and establishing expectations is important— critical truly— when it comes to self care, self preservation, and surviving. I don't want to minimize that in reflecting on what is mean it means to be supported, because I think it's a both and rather than how one is "better than" the other (which it is not.) Instead, I'll end my reflection with how I feel very warm and fuzzy and very very supported, and how grateful I am for the community with me in all of this conference planning~