Diane,
    Your model gives some insights and pause for reflection.  My comments
which follow are perceptions, not research, and I offer them only as
perceptions.
    To fine-tune your model, I'd like to see some sort of accommodation
where the "sliding back/burnout" stage could be followed with the option of
a repeat of the "rising wave" stage, then the "peak" stage, and so on.  I
think for some, there may be a sort of circular motion in the middle, not
just a progression through the stages.  For some, after the "sliding
back/burnout stage", there be a move to do more hand-on stuff with Mums and
babies, to get back to grassroots and what it's all about, rather than
speaking/writing and getting away from direct contact.  Another option at
this stage ("sliding back/burnout") might be to combine the two strands,
i.e. repeating the "rising wave" stage concurrently with "boosting the next
wave" - a divided wave, so to speak.  It happens.
    I don't know how this fits the visual image of waves on a beach.  It is
a long time since I watched the waves break.
       Virginia
        in Brisbane

> For a talk I'm giving, I've broken our career into rough phases that
> resemble the advance and retreat of a wave on a beach:
>
> In the beginning:  We're all enthusiam, virtually no knowledge
>
> The rising wave:  We begin to know more, including the fact that there's
> still more to know
>
> The peak:  We begin to think we know most of what matters, and generally
> feel pretty comfortable with our skills
>
> Sliding back: the beginnings of burnout, a growing interest in the Bigger
> Picture, conferences are no longer like exciting candy shops
>
> Boosting the next wave: We speak, or write, or encourage, perhaps instead
of
> working directly w/ mothers
>
> Retiring: We go to work thinking about the Caribbean, or maybe about
> Antarctica where there are no nursing mothers
>
> Death: the legacy we leave
>
> I'm wondering if any of these phases resonate with any of you, to the
point
> where you have thoughts to share.  For instance, in the beginning when I
was
> first asked to consider LLL Leadership, I replied that we were moving, but
> that I'd consider it if the area to which we were moving wasn't already
> well-covered... as if any area ever has enough breastfeeding help.  Or as
a
> "rising wave," I bought books because I was convinced every question I was
> asked had an answer somewhere, if I just knew where to look.  Or in the
> "sliding back" phase, I bought a Liberty Bell pencil sharpener at a
> conference, to remind me to free up my personal life more than I'd been
> doing.  (It still sits on my desk, though to some extent it just serves as
> one more finger shaking at me.)
>
> I know these phases overlap, and maybe you feel I have them wrong.  I'm
> happy to hear anything anyone has to share.
>
> Should your thoughts be posted to lactnet, or e-mailed to me privately?  I
> think they'd be fun for all of us to hear.  Use your judgment...
>
> Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC  Ithaca, NY
> www.wiessinger.baka.com
>

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