my first workshop
Today I hosted a small workshop as part of my intervention!
Over the past weeks since independent study term began, I kept trying to think of ways to initiate this intervention. Originally, I wanted to prioritize including all three of my drivers; fashion, self-positionality, and alternate universes. However, designing a process that included all three felt challenging at this stage. Although there were some ideas I had, nothing felt concrete.
I felt it was best to focus on two drivers for now, collect data & feedback, and apply it strategically in a way where I can relate it back to fashion in my upcoming interventions. For today’s workshop, I focused on Self-Positionality and Alternate Universes.
Although there were many approaches I could have taken for this intervention, I felt a workshop would be the best method to introduce my question and concept, simplifying it in a way where my stakeholders could engage without it becoming overwhelming.
I added four different self-reflective activities, while trying to find a way to correlate them by the end of the workshop. I have attached the activities below, for reference.
Prior to starting the workshop, I was pretty nervous in how my participants would engage. The voice in my head kept throwing questions at me; “What if they think this is stupid?” or “What if this does absolutely nothing and I just wasted their time?” However, I tried my best to block those out and continue with what I had planned.
The results of the workshop were interesting.
After completing all the activities, I asked the participants to provide feedback. The feedback provided varied between the four participants, but still had consistency overall.
Participant One - “One of the biggest things that I realized when doing this, you don’t really ever take the time to visually put it out there, but there are a lot of overlapping characteristics between who I am and who I want to become. So it helps you realize there really aren’t as many barriers as you kind of get in your own head about and overthink things with.”
Participant Two - “Similarly, it got me thinking about how we don’t write it down as much. Maybe in school we used to be asked to do this a lot more, but I think it’s been so long since that happened. I think other than New Year’s Resolutions, there’s no time for reflection and a lot of people and I don’t take those as seriously, so it was nice to write things down. Similarly as participant one was saying…seeing the characteristics of who you want to be and the overlaps it has. When I was writing the list of who I am now, I found myself comparing it to me when I was younger and the type of person I am now. It was kind of cool to see I have achieved at least some of those things, and that when we have the list of things we want to accomplish, I felt more confident and inspired that I can probably get there because I have gotten to where I am now. I also do think I like the framework of the alternate reality because I think a lot of time with these goals, achieving them seems abstract, but when you say this version already exists, it makes it feel like more inevitable. You feel more supported, like it’s not crazy to have these goals.”
Participant Three - “I would love be in the Alternate Universe, for a lot of things. Have I achieved them? No. I would like to work towards it. You know, there is definitely work. The biggest goal in my alternate universe right now is to retire in two years and do more charity work. Really try to make this world a better place.”
Participant Four - “I think penning it down, your thoughts on a piece of paper to what you are today to what you want to be… a lot of reflection. It’s a good exercise in which we all..we miss the point, we don’t pen it down. I think every one of us have goals, but we think of what we are made of to what we want to achieve that goal, we overlook that. Your goal becomes a secondary part of your life and life keeps happening. But if you put your mind to it, you can make it happen which is something I took away from here. I think for me, it is all self-care which I have totally neglected. I think these are the tools which I have to invest more to get to that.
It makes me happy to see that the half hour workshop left at least a small impact on my participants. I found it interesting when participant one and two talked about the overlaps between who they are now versus who they want to be. That the barriers are more a psychological outcome of overthinking.
It makes me question who the right stakeholders for this project exactly is? Is it people who only feel stuck in some aspect of their life, or can it be a self-reflective practice for a wider group? I am so curious to know if this workshop will serve them in the long run or if it is one of those experiences that you forget about overnight? How can I make this as impactful as possible?
I did find much relief when participant two stated “I also do think I like the framework of the alternate reality because I think a lot of time with these goals, achieving them seems abstract, but when you say this version already exists, it makes it feel like more inevitable. You feel more supported, like it’s not crazy to have these goals.” After having many many conversations about the practically of this driver, it is relieving to know that it did make sense to my participants.
Do I consider this workshop intervention a success? That is to be determined. I think for now, I am grateful to at least see the small impact it had. The importance of visualization and self-reflection. I left the workshop feeling more inspired for what is to further come in my research.
